Guwahati police involving people to check crimes

GUWAHATI, September 5: The move of the Guwahati city police to involve the people in preventing crimes has yielded the desired results as people from all walks of life have come forward to offer their helping hand to the police. Police sources revealed that while the petty crimes in the city had increased, the number of police personnel in the city had remained the same for years. The city police decided to try out a new idea to prevent crimes in the ever growing city. Sources said that keeping in mind the need to evolve new methodology to prevent crimes, the city superintendent of police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, and other senior police officers held a series of meetings with local residents in different parts of the city, which led to the formation of citizens committees in different localities. Mahanta said it is beneficial for the police to involve the people in crime preventing activities as it would improve the efficiency of the police force. He said that the city police has received overwhelming response to its move to involve the people in preventing crimes and improve the police-public relations. Already more than 50 citizens' committees have been set up in different localities of Guwahati and more such committees are being formed. Everyday, the superintendent of police and other police officials are receiving requests from people of different localities to visit their areas for the setting up of local committees and these committees have helped the police a great deal in preventing petty crimes.