The city police are taking a number of steps to check crime.
Recently, 100 policemen were involved in cordon-and-search operation at Seva Nagar in the Madhurawada area. According to Commissioner of Police Amit Garg, the exercise will be a regular feature.
“It is aimed at rounding up habitual offenders, especially those involved in property offences, chain-snatching, and rowdy sheeters,” Mr. Amit Garg said.
This apart, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) T. Ravi Kumar Murthy has been tasked with monitoring the movement of those being released on bail or after serving jail term.
“The DCP has constituted a core team with SHOs of police stations under the Commissionerate. The SHOs will be monitoring the movement of all jail releases under their jurisdiction,” said Mr. Amit Garg.
This is being done as most of the offences are committed by habitual offenders.
Personnel on beat patrol, especially those in the night shift, have been told to detain strangers and people moving under suspicious circumstances. It is learnt that 60-70 persons are picked up on a daily basis across the four divisions of the Commissionerate.
“A special team under the DCP (Crime) has completed crime mapping of the entire city. Special focus will be on crime-prone areas,” the CP said.
Sometime ago, the wife of tailor residing under Two Town Police station limits received an SMS that she had won a lottery of about Rs. 50 crore. In her eagerness to earn the huge amount, she coughed up Rs. 8 lakh.
Finally, when nothing materialised, she lodged a complaint with the police.
But it was too late, as the money was paid online to some fictitious account, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) C. M. Trivikram Varma.
The police have embarked on an awareness drive to check such instances.
Recently, Mr. Amit Garg and other senior officers organised a meeting with the bankers and advised them to send SMS alert to all their customers on precautions to be taken.
Mr. Trivikram Varma said that debit card and credit card holders should never reveal their PIN, CVV, and OTP to callers, even if they claim to be calling from banks.
