The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Police intensify drive against crime

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 26, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Police intensify drive against crime

Anand Haridas

`Nucleus groups' to be formed in colonies of economically-weaker sections

KOCHI: The police have drawn up a plan to intensify the drive against criminal activities in the city.

"The force has been asked to take suo motu cases against offenders.

The goal is to reduce the number of times a common man has to approach the police.

However, this would increase the number of cases manifold," said City Police Commissioner P. Vijayan.

The force has already been put on invisible action mode. City Shadows, special teams launched by the force, have been deployed in the city since the beginning of this week. Night patrolling has also been intensified.

Police personnel have begun using autorickshaws for patrolling.

"The results have started coming in, but the real impact of the drive will take some time to register," said Mr. Vijayan, who had successfully implemented this drive in Thiruvananthapuram Rural during his stint as Superintendent of Police there.

The City Shadows have been launched to check criminal activities during the festive Onam season.

"These teams have been directed to concentrate on crimes such as pick-pocketing, sexual harassment of women, drug abuse and alcohol consumption in public.

Also, we are planning to make preventive arrests and reject bail applications of potential offenders," said Mr. Vijayan.

Public participation

As a next step of the Police and Residents Associations Initiative in District Ernakulam (PRIDE), the City Police decided to form `nucleus groups' at residence associations' level.

The idea was to encourage this group to serve as a monitoring force in local-level activities and also counsel wrongdoers. The group would also help the force in identifying crime-prone areas in the city.

Now the force is planning to take this interaction beyond residents' associations to unorganised residential places and economically-weaker colonies. "We have discussed the issue with Kudumbasree to conduct awareness classes in these colonies," said Mr. Vijayan.

The City Police are also considering organising adalats to settle local disputes.

Unlike adalats and counselling sessions organised by NGOs, the police are expecting more results because of its influence on all sections of society.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala