A short film titled ‘Velvom’ was released here on Wednesday, on behalf of the Madurai City Police.
Scripted and shot by a group of youngsters from the town, the film effectively conveys the need for awareness about crime prevention, in three-minute capsule and will be made available on social media platforms for public viewing.
The Commissioner of Police, S. Davidson Devasirvatham, released the film at The American College amidst cheers from college students and in the presence of DC Traffic K. Sugumaran, DC Law and Order E. Karthik, DC Crime K. Palanikumar, DC Headquarters M. Baskaran and the principal of the college Davamani Christober.
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The film showcases various crimes such as chain snatching, women harassment, murder and suicide and creates awareness about the ‘Kavalan’ app through which one can send an SOS from the scene of crime and the police reaches the spot within minutes.
Two famous cinema personalities from the Madurai Region, directors and actors Sasikumar and Samuthirakani, have lent their time and effort to the film, as they appear in brief scenes, explaining to the audience about the various steps taken by the city police to prevent crime and how people should seek police help in case of any trouble.
“The lack of awareness is the cause of a majority of issues and when we floated the idea, a couple of youngsters came forward to do the film on their own. The idea is to reach out to young people in the city. We have been doing several campaigns in colleges and schools to create awareness against bad company and drugs, as young people are more often found to be involved in crime in Madurai,” said the Commissioner.
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He said that public cooperation is important in the prevention of crime and urged people to report to the police about crimes that happen in the city.
“With public and private participation, we have installed nearly 9000 to 10,000 CCTV cameras across the city. Madurai has the highest number of CCTV cameras after Chennai. The crime rates have come down subsequently,” he said.
The senior police official added that chain snatching incidents have dropped below 100 this year.
“The number of chain snatching in 2019 so far is 66, while in the previous years it was around 150. However, murders in Madurai remain a challenge. What is disheartening is that youth aged 17 to 25 are found involved in murders. They are either school or college dropouts in most cases. The short film is to touch the youth,” he said.
DC L&O, E. Karthik, said that the police are more approachable through various platforms and people should make use of their services.
“The response time has also been reduced to a few minutes. We are part of the public and are here to serve them,” he said.