Mannequins pose for police in street - 8th January 2020

Police mannequins have become the newest law enforcement measure in Bangalore, India. The mannequins are fully dressed as traffic officers, complete with white hats and shirts and fluorescent vests with the police badge.

These dummy police officers are stationed at major intersections in the hope they'll encourage motorists to obey traffic regulations. But why the need for mannequins?

With over 44,000 junctions in Bangalore yet as few as 450 having proper traffic lights, the rest are managed by the police. Many junctions are simply not managed at all since there aren't enough police officers to cover them.

In 2019, Bangalore experienced over 50,000 incidents of reckless driving and more than 57,000 cases of drink driving.

But can model officers actually solve the problem? Locals have given them a mixed reaction.

Man 1: "It's general human mentality when you see a policeman - you have the fear in your heart, 'Oh, I am doing something wrong, I will not do it.' "

Man 2: "We do not, do not follow rules even if they [police] are real. Then, how could it work when they are not even moving and running after us?"