Pay phones to be monitored

Bomb hoax calls made from coin-operated phones may be the worst nightmare for the Chennai police, but they have now decided to put an end to it.

The police plan to ask all those who own coin-operated phones in the city to install CCTV cameras or maintain a log of those who use the facility.

The past couple of weeks, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad has been on its toes constantly, checking out threat calls, including one to actor Ajith’s house and another to Chennai Central railway station.

Once a bomb threat call is made to the police control room, the local police station evacuates the locality concerned. Then the bomb and dog squads thoroughly check the locality. Parallel investigation is also undertaken to locate the caller.

“If the call is made to a house or office, then we try tracking the number using the service provider,” says an officer.

Usually, the caller is apprehended, but it becomes difficult to trace the miscreant if the call is made from a coin-operated phone. “CCTV cameras can be fixed on the equipment itself. This will act as a deterrent,” says the officer.

A huge amount of manpower is wasted on investigating bomb hoax calls. “They may turn out to be false, but we cannot take any chance,” says a senior police officer.