The city’s police commissioner, Ajay Nand, has instructed all senior officers, including those of the rank of additional commissioners, to be on the roads and jointly check vehicles with central forces between 10pm and 2am every day.

Earlier, assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners used to supervise on-road policing, sources said.

“It is a new system in which even additional commissioners will be on the roads to check vehicles,” said a source in Kolkata Police.

A Kolkata Police officer said the move, which began Thursday night, is a “measure to build confidence” and make the police more active and visible on the roads as the Assembly elections draw closer.

Dozens of teams comprising officers of Kolkata Police and the CAPF are conducting vehicle checks across the city every day. However, with senior officers now added to the exercise, the on-duty teams are expected to be more alert, an officer said.

Till Friday, static surveillance teams were conducting naka checks at 57 locations, police pickets were placed at 34 spots near the city’s border areas, and traffic police were carrying out naka checks at around 52 points across the city.

Their primary task is to look for illegal arms, unaccounted cash and contraband substances.

Senior officers have also been directed to check vehicles on the roads, visit police stations in their respective zones and directly interact with people in case of any incident or situation.

“The idea is to make men in uniform more visible on the roads and give citizens the confidence to step out even late at night without hesitation,” said a Kolkata Police officer.

The concept of “on-road policing”, where senior officers were deployed on the streets, began more than a decade ago when Surajit Kar Purkayastha was Kolkata Police commissioner. However, it was then restricted to deputy commissioners.

A few years later, then commissioner Vineet Goyal included joint commissioners and ranks above for night rounds. Earlier, only officers up to the rank of deputy commissioners used to be on night rounds, with one or two senior officers assigned on a roster.

This will be the first time that so many senior officers — additional commissioners, joint commissioners and deputy commissioners — will be on the roads simultaneously.