CHENNAI: The swift move by the top brass of the Chennai City Police in issuing instructions to move all units to the coastal areas after the tsunami alert was not ma-tched by the response at the lower rungs on Wednesday. The sluggishness of the forces earned the wrath of the top cops, whose fury then helped streamline the response. Highly placed sources told Express that despite an alert that police stations across the city should move all units towards the coast, little was done till senior officials started yelling over the wireless network.It is understood that police stations in areas away from the sea had been asked to retain one unit in their jurisdiction and move inspectors, sub-inspectors and constables to beach-facing zones to help out. This, reportedly, had come after Commissioner J K Tripathy had addressed his entire force and reassured them there was nothing to panic about.The city police had showed extraordinary zeal during the tsunami preparedness drill on May 9, 2011. But that seemed lacking on Wednesday. “Part of the reason was that units moving towards the beach were stuck in traffic. This delayed the response,” said the source.Senior police officials reached the beach ahead of their men and gave their men a good dressing down, which spurred the men into action. In a short while, policemen swarmed the beach and shooed onlookers away. The source conceded that the police response to the impending crisis could have been swifter, and that steps would soon be taken to incorporate the lessons learnt on Wednesday to evolve a more streamlined response.
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