Home Minister suggests helicopter for Mumbai police

In addition to modern weaponry and vehicles, the city's police could also get a helicopter in the future to carry out monitoring and reach sites of emergencies quickly, Home Minister Jayant Patil said on Monday.

In addition to modern weaponry and vehicles, the city's police could also get a helicopter in the future to carry out monitoring and reach sites of emergencies quickly, Home Minister Jayant Patil said on Monday.

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"Presently the traffic situation in the city is bad and it takes a long time for police authorities to travel from south Mumbai to nothern parts which is undesirable in case of an emergency. I believe that we need a helicopter for such situations," Patil said at a function in south Mumbai where 207 new vehicles were presented to the city police.

The helicopter could be used to ferry officials quickly to the site of emergencies and can also be used to monitor traffic, Patil said, adding that the state government would take steps towards acquiring it.

The Home Minister denied that there had been any specific intelligence inputs received regarding aerial attacks by terrorists in the city, but said a helicopter would help police mantain security of the city and its boundaries.

The state government is also considering sending teams from the city police, consisting of senior police officials, to countries like Israel, England and China in order to study policing techniques and controlling terror, Patil said.

"The teams consisting of senior officials should be sent there to study how they handle law enforcement and tackle terrorism," he said.