To ensure greater safety for women in Noida and Greater Noida, the Gautam Buddh Nagar police on August 1,2020, launched special scooter-borne patrolling units run by women cops. It was launched to provide maximum safety to women in the area.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shriparna Ganguly and DCP Shukla, among other officers, were present during the launch of the all-women patrolling unit.
Called Swayam Siddha, these patrol groups will patrol areas like metro stations, auto stands, schools, colleges, and areas with large female footfall. These women patrol officers will be given a baton, a body camera along with arms that will stay hidden.
These units will patrol during the day to start with, but changes may be made to their duty timings based on feedback. 50 units were flagged off. A total of 100 scooters have been provided to the patrol units. According to police officials, there will be one-rider per scooter who could be a police sub-inspector, head constable, or a constable.
The Swayam Siddha patrol units is an initiative by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Women Safety) Vrinda Shukla. Her department has come up with initiatives on women safety in the past which have shown positive results, Police Commissioner Alok Singh
"Today, 50 such units have been launched. The initiative has been done after adequate research. About 163 hotspots were identified across the district where women felt the need for more police security. Route charts have been prepared accordingly for the patrolling units," he said.
He stated that women's safety has been a key focus area for the police commissionerate of Gautam Buddh Nagar ever since the beginning of January this year.
As per the officials, the feedback was taken from the public and NGOs working on women's issues on social media and through other mediums before initiating the program.
