Thread by @WeAreBangalore

FACT: Every Traffic PS has 4-6 sectors, every sector has a sector officer who is called Beta, he is a 2 star PSI, also will have a 1 star ASI, called Mercury, they will also have pillion staff with them, they would be incharge of that sector, any problem, they need to attend.

Every sector also has a Cobra, he is also the one who coordinates with BBMP/BWSSB etc, he is incharge of coordinating with any road work in progress, he is also the first person to respond for any emergency/accident that's reported via Namma 100 which comes via a Tab he has.

The Inspector of any Traffic PS is called Alpha, he has 3 stars, he is incharge of the entire PS limits and all staff report to him, ensure that all officers reporting to him provide a progress report of improvement of their individual sectors.

Besides Alpha (Inspector 3 Star), BETA (PSI 2 Star) and Mercury (ASI 1 Star), you have HC (Head Constable/Duffedar) and PC (Police Constable) and WPC (Womam Police Constable), HC,PC,WPC they are given different responsibilities, some are posted for admin work at the station.

I.e. Writer, Investigation, Court PC etc. But who you see at the junctions are called Junction Jockeys, they are rotated daily at different junctions in the PS limits, everyone warks hard, but the most are rhe junction jockeys, they are BTP's lifeline.

Then finally you have Home Gaurds, they assist the cops, but they are not fixed attendance, they are paid for days they come to work, and days they dont come to work, they are not paid, they normally are in khaki uniform.

Traffic personnel can take leave only by putting a leave of absence which has to be approved and signed by the Inspector, a personnel going absent without applying for leave can face departmental action against him/her.

The senior officers are concentrating on the health and safety of all staff, all 2nd shift staff junction jockeys have to wear reflective jackets, all junctions jockeys are supplied with face mask regularly.
Also annual health checkups are a must for all staff.

Facts is that when traffic is held up a junction, the junction jockey starts getting tensed up, many say that traffic is piling up, cops are doing nothing, thats wrong, they get so worried or else the Inspector will question them, if the Inspector questions them, it's never good.

When they become powerless is when some civic work is progress i.e. pipe laying, metro, flyover, whitetopping, theres not much any traffic cop can do for the congestion, yet they feel bad, that's why they do manual operations of a signal, trust me doing manual is very very tiring

And allowing the signal to run on automatic is easy, you will hear even people saying run it on automatic, in heavy congested areas, it will take you twice the time to cross the junction if automatic was used.

When you see cops catching violators on the road, thats called Spot Fines Checking, they will stop you only if they see any visible offence, if a cop stops you, he will tell you why they stopped you, they never stop motorist to check for documents, thats done in the night by L&O.

At the Spot Fines, they also check old for old Camera, public eye cases, and you have to clear the past and present cases by cash or debit/credit card option, stop negotiating with cops, pay the full fine and collect the challan.

For BMTC busses, we raise a Digital or manual FTVR (Violation) which is then forwarded to BMTC who checks the driver details and deducts it from their salary and pays the fines to BTP, stopping a big bus would inconvenience other motorist and also the passengers in it.

Many motorist think, if they are caught on Spot Fine, they can pay later, no you have to clear it, if you don't have the money, then the officer will request you to deposit your ORIGINAL RC&DL and collect it after paying the fine later.

If you don't have the original DL/RC, then vehicle will be seized and a court challan will be provided, you will have to pay the fine in the relevant court and produce the court payment challan to collect your vehicle from the station.

Many people also argue about tinted glass and the visibility percentage, please remember, "Sun Film" is banned, if the glass itself is dark, then the percentage comes in place, so if you put sun film which has even 90% visibility, still a violation can be booked, because "FilM".

Other common mistake is free left, theres no boards, all free lefts are in the signal and it will blink left arrow, that means there's free left, when it stops blinking, then you have to stop, don't search for sign boards, in Bangalore free left is in the signal.

If you argue, behave too unruly, abuse verbally or touch or hit a traffic personnel in uniform on duty, they can book a IPC 353 case on you, you will be arrested, and sent to judicial custody, trust me you dont want to go to jail for IPC 353, you will never ever break a rule.

Cops get are angry at the junctions only because of the honking, the non stop honking makes them angry, you meet them of duty, and they are the sweetest people, so when someone back answers them, the temper aggravates more.

When they are at the junctions, daily they only hear what a bad job their doing, how they are doing nothing for all the violations, honking, pollution, dust, to get a compliment from a motorist/public is very very rare, finding a needle in the haystack story.

There are 2 shifts, 7am-2pm, 2pm-10pm, no junction jockey can leave unless the junction is normal, most staff dont stay close by, i.e. HC works in Ecity, but stays in Magadi Road, this happens in most of the stations, but wait its not as easy as you think.

Unlike private sector, police personnel are promoted as per seniority, and vacancy, not performance, the department tries their level best to post staff near their homes, but largely it becomes difficult to put everyone nearby.

Staff are regularly post for special duty, if theres a protest or some major religios feast or a marathon, they have to go, after finishing special duty, they have to come back to their TPS and then continue their duty, its not regular, but it does happen, more in festival time.

Nowadays when your passing a junction, you might see a cop staring at his mobile, we normally think he is watching YouTube, FB etc, no, he is watching Google Maps, it's not that they dont use Social Media, but 80% usage is Google Maps.

Every shift in a Traffic PS starts with a roll call, a ASI (Mercury ) or PSI (Beta) or sometimes the PI (Alpha) will conduct it, its nothing but a briefing, if any news or road work updates, even their appearance will be checked, shoes polished, hair cut, face shaved etc.

Traffic police, similar to their L&O counterparts and even the armed forces, they have to follow order of seniors based on rank, if the person of higher rank says to do something, you have to say yes, first follow the orders, then give suggestions, unless asked for suggestions.

Since they are on the roads, they have habit of eating from the roads, the food from carts have soda in it, unhygenic etc, cops are not fat due to being lazy, its because of their unhealthy eating paterns, thats why most cops by retirement end up with diabetes or BP or both.

All cops posted in Traffic go to a Traffic Training Institute before joining traffic, there they are thought hand signals, traffic management, emergency handling of situations, first aid etc. So if you say they are doing a bad job, thats not true.

Many people told me if I help the L&O, it will be more beneficial for me, but my heart doesn't allow me, that's why I support traffic police, been with them for almost 4 years and I can say I know everything, though there are some bad apples, but if your sweet to them.

You will find out that they are one of the most sweetest, kindest and loving individuals, its just all the stress, honking, pollution, dust and arguing, thats doesn't give us an opportunity to see the true gems of humans, that's the Bengaluru Traffic Personnel, Jai Hind.