CHENNAI: Notwithstanding claims by the police that they have 860 vehicles patrolling the city at night and 20,000 (including private surveillance cameras) CCTVs covering the city, one or two incidents of chain / bag snatching or attempt to snatch gold chains take place. It appears the police are not doing enough to stop such crimes. Despite all the 'precautions', city police recorded 112 snatching incidents till June 30 this year, police sources say. A former city police Commissioner, on condition of anonymity, said patrol vehicles should be visible in the city roads and it can act as a warning signal and hindrance to criminals.
"Systematic and strict vehicle checks along with properly illuminated roads and strict monitoring by senior officials can also help to prevent snatching incidents. Criminals should know they will not be able to get out of the city without being caught. I don't think such a system exists now," the retired IPS officer said when this newspaper contacted him. 'Not just tonight, every night' should be the motto of the city police when it comes to prevention of crime, he said.
Police officers said of the 860 odd patrol vehicles, 360 are four wheelers and 500 are two-wheelers. Along with this, nearly 1,000 home guard volunteers are also roped in on a daily basis. The 3,000 youth brigade members, who were allotted to Chennai police, are now being trained to join the force as full time police personnel. When it was pointed out that the visibility of police, night patrolling and vehicle checks have come down in Chennai, a senior police official claimed that adequate crime prevention mechanism was in place. More than 850 patrol vehicles are deployed in the city during night. Vehicle checks are conducted at vulnerable places. Though the city police have covered only KK Nagar and Valsaravakkam by CCTV, there are around 20,000 such cameras, a majority belonging to private parties, keeping an eye on the streets. But senior officials believe that by bringing the entire city under electronic surveillance may help them to identify criminals and prevent crime.
Officials agree that policemen have to attend other duties like managing agitations and VIP security and said that the conviction rate of grave crimes was around 50 per cent, despite a regular review of cases.
