How Kasaragod cops’ anti-covid strategy worked
nNEWDELHI: Even though Kerala’s Kasaragod district is bracing for a second round of infections two days after it was declared Covid-19 free (on May 10), the “triplelock” containment strategy used by the district police is the perfect example of how the expertise of cops in conducting surveillance, enquiries and investigations as well as their familiarity of an area and connect with the community can play an important role in managing a health crisis like this.
Local police are not only the first responders to a disaster but are the key people for helping civil administration in arranging resources as well as maintaining law and order while continuing their schedule at police stations.
In fact, research by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), a think tank of the ministry of home affairs, written by 1982 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer, Paras Nath Rai, says: “Police has a major role in disaster management. As police will continue to have the first responder role given its proximity to the incident site it has to bring about a change in its approach. It has to adopt disaster management function as a primary role and not a side work.” Rai argued that the local police must be “trained, equipped and supported with legislation and logistics so that they find themselves capable to support the victim in the golden hour”.
The Kasaragod police’s strategy has been called particularly effective.
One of the main features of Kasaragod’s police strategy to monitor the movements of Covid-19 patients and their primary and secondary contacts was use of an application, Covidsafety, and not Aarogya Setu. The Covidsafety app has been extremely helpful in detecting violation of home quarantine by people as it alerts the police if the quarantined person moves 50 metres away from his location, according to Inspector General of Police and Commissioner of Police
Kochi, Vijay Sakhare. Kasaragod was one of the first districts in the country to have reported a Covid-19 case on February 3.
Sakhare says the “triple-lock” strategy is a combination of professional policing techniques and innovative use of technology.it involves traditional method of restricting movement of people in the district by putting up barricades, human surveillance by deploying officers outside residence of patients, and several apps for tracing, delivery of essentials and medicines.
Some platforms launched by Kasaragod police include the Covidsafety app for contact tracing, which Sakhare said most people downloaded; “Swaraksha Kasaragod” app for free medical consultation and ambulances and the “Amrutham” app for the home delivery of essential items by cops and drones. The efforts reduced the number of new cases — from 64 in the first week of implementation (March 25 to March 31) to just five by the last week of April — by almost 92%.
The Kochi commissioner says the Lock-3 strategy has been scaled up to cover the new returnees to the state after the Centre and state governments have opened up the borders. He adds that “home quarantine is no quarantine” unless affected persons stay inside. “The possibility of these persons spreading infection to other family members and the community is very real,” Sakhare said.
Delhi Police commissioner SN Shrivastava says: “No civil administration can think of managing an epidemic without the help of police because of the authority it has in the community. Be it implementing the lockdown or managing security of quarantine centres and containment zones, hospitals, movement of migrant labourers, supply of essentials and giving permissions, all these are the strengths of police. Managing a disaster of this scale while continuing the regular police work is a challenge too but then it’s our first duty to serve the people.”