Reporter’s Diary: Only dept vehicles can flaunt ‘POLICE’ stickers, not that of cops

The police are not completely off the mark in going against fake ‘PRESS’ people as often, even scribes find those running a printing press flaunting ‘PRESS’ sticker on their vehicles. To combat that, the government, a few years ago came up with an idea of issuing official ‘PRESS’ sticker for vehicles belonging to government-accredited journalists in the state. 

Having said that, it is not uncommon to spot two- and four-wheelers with ‘POLICE’ sticker in both front and rear of the vehicle, that too in red. Are all these vehicle owners police personnel, or is there a misuse even there? Well, the mystery seems to have finally been cracked, thanks to an RTI response to a query. The Chennai City Police, in its response, categorically stated that there is no provision for sticking ‘POLICE’ sticker on any private vehicle, even those owned by police personnel. The response mentioned that only vehicles belonging to the police department can have such a sticker on the body of the vehicle. 

What remains to be seen, however, is whether our cops would go after these ‘POLICE’ personnel.