There is a new obstacle on the pavement at Tiruveedhiamman Kovil Street in Mandaveli — and nobody is likely to complain about it.
It’s a bright red-coloured police booth, which was inaugurated on September 30. Obviously, the benefit of having this compact booth is considerably out of proportion to the inconvenience caused by it.
Already, residents have installed six CCTV cameras on this street, which comes under the E-4 Abhiramapuram police jurisdiction. Together, these six CCTV cameras will help monitor both ends of the street. Now, they have set up the booth.
Inaugurating the booth, Saravana Kumar, Mylapore DCP (law and order), said, “This is a great initiative by residents. It provides us a chance to work hand in hand with them to keep the neighbourhood safe.”
He suggested that a pole be placed at the end of the street to mount a CCTV camera on it.
Members of various residents’ welfare associations including Jeth Nagar, Sivaraman Street and R.A. Puram attended the event.
“Due to safety concerns, we don’t want to keep the main CCTV unit inside the booth. We will however share the access code of these cameras with the police if they need any footage. We wanted a booth as a symbol of round-the-clock surveillance,” said Bala, secretary of TAKSRA.
A register will be maintained at the police booth to record details of the beat officer and the time he/she visited, said Sudarshan, ACP (law and order), J4 Kotturpuram police station.
“As there is manpower shortage, it is not possible to man the police booth at all times. We will be giving phone numbers of our team, so that residents can contact us in case of an emergency,” he added.
The beat police are divided into three groups — A, B and C. “The team comprising Group A is in charge of the Jeth Nagar section, Group B watches over Mandaveli and Tiruveedhiamman Kovil Street and Group C, Greenways Road. The constables will take turns to keep watch at the booth,” said Vetriselvan C., inspector (crime), E-4 Abhiramapuram police station.
