Cops to get awards for bloodied shirts

The police chief, to encourage his men to rush injured people to hospitals instead of waiting for ambulances, will give awards to those whose uniforms have blood stains. Vijaita Singh reports.

Bloodstained uniforms are now the path to reward for the Delhi Police.

HT Image

The police chief, to encourage his men to rush injured people to hospitals instead of waiting for ambulances, will give awards to those whose uniforms have blood stains.

The order, which came into effect a fortnight ago, was taken after it was found that some policemen posted in police control room (PCR) vans avoid handling bleeding victims because they don’t want to soil their uniforms. Now, not only will this be rewarded, Delhi Police will also pick up the cleaning tab to incentivise saving lives.

“Policemen who will have bloodstains on their uniforms while transporting the injured to hospitals will be suitably rewarded. We will also reimburse their laundry bills,” said Kewal Singh, additional commissioner of police (PCR).

Whenever an accident or any other incident takes place a PCR van is the first to reach the spot. In 2009, the PCR took 50,765 injured people to hospitals.

“The PCR is the biggest ambulance service. However there are odd cases when policemen shirk responsibility and golden hour (the first crucial hour after the accident) is wasted,” Singh said. “A common problem is their uniform gets dirty and if an incident has taken place in the morning they have to keep in it the entire day.”

“It is the responsibility of each policeman to maintain his uniform but it is better to reward them for saving a life,” he added.