With only two weeks left for the Deepavali celebrations, the city police have started ground work for making the shopping season crime-free for the public. Temporary watch towers have been erected at strategic places (one each) at Oppanakara Street and the Cross Cut Road.
Police personnel stationed atop the towers, with the help of binoculars, monitor crowd movement and check incidents that may disturb normalcy.
Cameras have been installed at the prime shopping areas.
Deputy Commissioner, Law and Order, S. Lakshmi said that two special teams comprising experts in identifying and arresting pocket pickers will be deployed in mufti in the shopping areas. Police personnel in mufti will also be travelling in the crowded buses plying through shopping areas during the festival season.
Police personnel in plain clothes have been positioned at vantage points with a dossier on ex-convicts and habitual offenders.
In view of the recent incidents that disturbed communal harmony, the police are also gearing up to deploy adequate personnel and home guards for keeping a check on any sudden untoward developments. A senior police officer said that patrolling will be intensified.
