Patna police have decided to revert to the old but effective way of crime control.

With the state capital witnessing a number of serious criminal incidents recently, Patna police admitted that patrolling in the city had gone haywire and will soon be reintroducing "good old" beat policing to control the rise in criminal activities.

Talking to The Telegraph on Thursday, Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said old ways of patrolling was the need of the hour and the police was planning to introduce beat policing in Patna soon.

A plan in this regard is being prepared.

"There have been some criminal incidents in Patna in the past two days. The police are working hard and arrests have also been made," the senior officer said.

"Patrolling in the capital has gone completely haywire at present. The spurt in criminal incidents can only be controlled if there is proper police presence. Beat policing is the need of the hour. It will be implemented in Patna soon. This should take care of the situation."

Beat policing involves division of a particular area or sector into sub-sectors. These are called beats.

Three or more officers will be in charge of a beat and be responsible for crime control in that area. This will ensure that all areas are under supervision.

For example, the stretch extending from Dakbungalow roundabout to Kargil Chowk is around 2km long and would require enough personnel. This can be divided into three beats.

It will be mandatory for the police to be in touch with residents in their beats so that there is no problem in getting tip-offs from them on the crime scenario.

A beat register will be maintained, in which the cops have to enter their duty timings so that senior officers can keep a tab on them.

The state capital witnessed as many as five murders in the past two days in addition to many cases of thefts and loots.

"Beat policing was earlier started in the city and had proved to be effective," the senior police officer said.

"But the system fizzled out soon. We believe that reintroduction of the system will be helpful as people will be able to stay in direct touch with the cops manning their beats. The officers will also have smaller areas to cover and this will ensure that they do the job effectively. Necessary steps can also be taken to uproot the crime pattern in the beats if the cops have a thorough knowledge of the areas assigned to them. We will introduce the system very soon."

Arrest

Five persons involved in the shooting incident at Rajeev Nagar in the city were arrested on Tuesday.

One person had died and two were injured in the incident. Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj said all five were henchmen of one Niraj Kumar, a land grabber.

The officer said the men had gone to capture a plot, which belongs to the housing board and had clashed with another criminal group, belonging to one Kislay.

The men were armed and shot three persons of the Kislay group.

Those arrested have been identified as Vishal Kumar, Karn Kumar, Shourya Kumar, Sonu Kumar and Satrughan Rai.

During interrogation, the men said they were active in other parts of the state as well.

The officer said more members of both gangs were still at large and the police were trying to nab them.