In a major step towards strengthening urban security and law enforcement preparedness, the Commissionerate Police on Thursday constituted two dedicated special units — STU and STG — to deal with incidents of mob violence and other emergent situations in Cuttack-Bhubaneswar twin cities.

Also Read: Rising crime in Odisha: Commissionerate Police launches ‘WE CARE SATHI’ app

The newly formed forces are expected to play a crucial role in maintaining law and order and ensuring a quick response during critical incidents.

According to police sources, these special teams will be deployed in Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) and Police Control Room (PCR) vehicles across sensitive and strategic locations. In case of any outbreak of mob violence or public unrest, the trained units will immediately rush to the spot and take charge of controlling the situation before it escalates further.

The personnel selected for these units have reportedly undergone specialised training to handle crowd aggression, emergency interventions, and rapid-response operations.

Apart from controlling mob violence, the STU and STG units will also be entrusted with responsibilities related to urban anti-terror operations. Officials said the teams would remain alert in crowded urban areas and monitor suspicious activities to prevent any potential threats to public safety. The special units are also expected to play an important role during VVIP movements and high-security visits by keeping close surveillance on public gatherings and sensitive zones.

Police authorities believe the fresh initiative will significantly improve emergency response capability in urban areas and help strengthen public confidence in the security system. The deployment of these trained units comes at a time when concerns over sudden crowd violence and security challenges in cities are increasing.

With rapid mobility, dedicated manpower, and specialised training, the Twin City police aim to ensure faster intervention and effective management of law and order situations.

“These STU or STG teams (urban commandos), previously seen in charge of the security of Legislative Assembly, will now be fully deployed to control mob violence in urban areas. They will be specially deployed in every ERSS and PCR vehicle, and if mob violence occurs anywhere in the twin cities, they will immediately respond to the ERSS call, rush to the spot and take measures to control the crowd,” a senior police official expressed.

Worth mentioning, earlier, an incident had occurred in Balianta locality where GRP Constable Soumya Ranjan Swain was brutally murdered. To prevent such a recurrence and to avoid similar incidents, the Commissionerate Police is now making such arrangements.