Hyderabad: People who want to lodge a complaint and register a first information report (FIR) in Hyderabad will not have to visit a police station anymore.

Under a novel initiative the police have started receiving the complaints in the patrolling vehicles roaming around the city.

Hyderabad city police commissioner Anjani Kumar, describing the initiative as a “new year gift” to the citizens said that on the very first day people lodged 28 complaints with the patrolling vehicles of which 10 FIRs were registered and others were entered into general diary depending upon the nature of the complaints.

“This is part of our efforts to make police people-friendly,” he said. “To lodge a complaint people will not require to visit a police station. They can approach the nearest patrolling vehicle and lodge their complaint with their address and cell number,” he said.

The Commissioner hoped that this will not only make easy for the people to approach the police for help but also go a long way in improving the law and order situation.

“This will be particularly helpful for women and senior citizens for whom visiting a police station was difficult,” he added.

Earlier it was mandatory for the people to visit a police station in person and give a written complaint to lodge a FIR for starting a probe into any case.

While with a big fleet of patrolling vehicles and emergency response vehicle, Hyderabad city police has made itself more visibly on the city roads during the recent years, there were many other ways of people locating the nearest patrol vehicle.

“They can get the contact number of nearest patrol vehicle from Hyderabad police website or from HawkEye mobile app or even by calling 100,” the commissioner said.

He thanked the people for choosing to lodge the complaints with the patrol cars. “This shows the trust of our citizens in patrol cars,” he said assuring that the police would continue its endeavour to provide the best possible service to the citizens.

“Police patrol cars are for your safety and security,” he told the people. “These officers are specially trained and are the best officers of the city police.”

He appealed to the citizens to help in identifying the best patrol officers of their areas so that they could be jointly felicitated by the people and the police department.