The city police have introduced police security at 58 select places, where residents gather in large numbers for morning and evening walks to prevent crimes like chain-snatching.
The new move that was tested on Wednesday morning comes in the wake of the murder of an elderly woman, S. Kasturi, at Tiruppalai, when she was on her morning walk.
Under the initiative of the new Commissioner of Police, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, police personnel with walkie-talkies would be deployed on two-wheelers on either sides of prominent stretches of roads and promenades where city residents go for their morning stroll.
“The walkers’ zone is only to ensure security for the people, especially the elderly persons, who come out for morning and evening walks,” Mr Yadav said.
Each police station will deploy police personnel both from Law and Order and Crime wings exclusively for this task from 5.30 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The teams will also keep a vigil on people moving suspiciously. The teams have been asked to note down the registration numbers of vehicles crossing their stretches.
In longer stretches of roads the police had planned to put up zig-zag barricades to make vehicle users slow down, a police officer said. The police personnel would also advise women, wearing heavy jewellery, not to flaunt them.
“It will also help our men keep themselves fit and healthy,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (Anna Nagar) B. Sakthivel said.
