Calcutta police commissioner Anuj Sharma has asked police stations and the traffic department to work in better coordination.

Lack of coordination between the two wings often leads to those in uniform closest to a crime scene refusing to help people saying it’s the other’s responsibility.

A change was visible in the past week when the two police wings conducted a drive against two-wheeler riders flouting rules that resulted in a record prosecution.

At the monthly crime conference on Saturday, Sharma, according to colleagues, cited the success of the ongoing drive to set an example on how things can change if cops on roads and at police stations work together.

More than 10,000 two-wheeler riders have been prosecuted in the past 10 days — mostly for riding without helmets or carrying more than one person on the pillion.

The drive will continue, Sharma has said at the conference.

The commissioner addresses the officers-in-charge and others above in rank at the conference.

Saturday’s meeting was unlike those held in the past with officers of the detective department and police stations. There were officers from the traffic department as well.

“Sir said he does not differentiate between traffic and the crime wings. So, he addressed both together,” an officer said.

Since the police’s traffic wing is the most visible in the city, traffic cops should respond if anyone seeks their help instead of asking them to report the matter to a police station, Sharma, according to the officer, told his officers.

On Friday, a woman boxer alleged in her complaint with South Port police station that she had been teased and physically harassed at a signal near Ekbalpore in the morning.

In a Facebook post, she alleged that an “on duty police personnel” had asked her to visit the nearest police station when she approached him for help.

She had not mentioned anything about any cop on duty in her complaint, though.

A few days ago, Lalbazar issued a standard operating procedure to the 80 police stations and 25 traffic guards in the city with specific instructions on what to do when someone approaches them for help.

“All officers-in-charge have been asked to strictly follow the SOP,” an officer of an assistant commissioner’s rank said.

The SOP was issued after a woman returning home from work was heckled by some youths on two-wheelers without helmets at the Exide crossing. The Maidan and Charu Market police stations had cited jurisdictional issues when she had sought help.

Sharma had then issued a message to the police force, asking cops not to act in a “casual manner” but to “pay attention to their work seriously”. The move had resulted in the drive against two-wheeler riders flouting rules.

Sharma on Saturday asked officers of the detective department to be “more active”. “He said he would hold a separate meeting with detective department officers,” an officer said.