A day after cracking the case of murder of a Plus Two student by three juveniles while robbing him of his mobile phone, the city police officials on Friday reached out to the public with a word of caution on the recent trend of crimes and sought their suggestions for improved policing in the city.
The Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav on Thursday said that the city police were trying to create awareness of various aspects of policing, including additional features of lodging complaints using social media.
Led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, P VE Arunshakthikumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Prohibition Enforcement), U. Murugesh, all Assistant Commissioners and Inspectors of Police in Law and Order wing interacted with the public at various residential areas on Friday.
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New trends
“It was predominantly to create awareness of the new trends in crime like involvement of juveniles in chain snatching and cellphone snatching and also to seek their suggestions for improvement in policing,” Mr. Arunshakthikumar said.
While talking with residents at MM Nagar in Tiruppalai, people sought deployment of police personnel in civvies to catch hold of anti-social elements.
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“A few people suggested that such elements slip away on seeing police personnel in uniform. If the police come in mufti, those criminals could be caught,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
The police also sought their feedback on police verification process for passport applications, the way of handling petitioners at police stations.
The officials explained the working of SOS feature of the city police mobile application in smart phones. “In case of any emergency like movement of suspicious elements, we asked the people just to press the SOS. The police will reach there in no time to their help,” he said.
Similarly, the police officials spoke about the WhatsApp helpline - 83000-21100 through which members of the public send complaints, suggestions along with photographs and videos.
“We promised them that their identity will be kept confidential and gave assurance on police action,” Mr. Arunshakthikumar said.
The police also warned people not to take minor children lightly and take additional care if some stranger child approached them with some or other excuse. The police also highlighted the need to install closed-circuit television camera network to keep offenders at bay.
At Aruldosspuram, the Sellur Inspector of Police, S. Ayyadurai, asked the parents to keep a tab on their minor children and prevent them from falling into the hands of anti-social elements.
He asked people to use secondary lock that immobilises front wheels of motorbikes to prevent two-wheeler thefts.