Next time you’re stuck in a morning jam on Shakespeare Sarani and spy a man on a racing cycle, in T-shirt and shorts, with a revolver dangling from the vast waistline, don’t blame it on last night’s party.

For, you could be just a red-light-jump away from a brush with Calcutta Police’s elite patrol squad, straight out of Baywatch’s sandy beaches of California. That is, if Subrata Ghosh, officer in charge (OC), Shakespeare Sarani police station, has his way.

Ghosh submitted the novel proposal to commissioner of police Sujoy Chakraborty last week. The project, awaiting Chakraborty’s nod, was devised to clear the patrolling hurdles posed by traffic snarls. Large vehicles, like jeeps or even the bulky Enfield, find it next to impossible to manoeuvre the one-way zone in the city centre.

Bicycle-patrolling is already used in some parts of the city, like the Maidan, and Shakespeare Sarani has flagged off a cycle squad of six armed constables in uniform to keep the traffic flowing down Shakespeare Sarani, AJC Bose Road and Park Street.

But it is a makeover — of vehicle and wardrobe — that Ghosh is gunning for. “Can you imagine a group of policemen pedalling down Shakespeare Sarani and Park Street like the lifeguards on Baywatch? It will be an impressive sight and will change the concept of policing here,” Ghosh had mused when the commissioner flagged off the cycle patrol with six bicycles donated by Bengal Initiative.

“But these six cycles are ordinary. And the constables’ dress code is the usual. I have suggested that they do things in style, with racing cycles, shorts, T-shirts and colourful plastic helmets,” said Ghosh.

The eco-friendly, inexpensive vehicle will be equipped with a wireless set for communication and the policemen armed with revolvers, stressed the Shakespeare Sarani OC.