Thane police prepares a list of Top 20 criminals in every police station's jurisdiction and assigns each crook to a constable who will track their movements to prevent serious crimes
Cops will meet their assigned criminal at least once a week for updates on their activities, and will also visit their homes and meet their family members. Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
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The Thane Police have a new T20 game plan to curb crime. The force recently had a good innings against chain-snatching incidents after they prepared a Top 20 list of chain-snatchers to keep tabs on. Now, the cops hope that the same idea will also curb serious crime across the city. The top brass has ordered police stations across Thane to prepare a list of the top 20 criminals in their jurisdiction, and each criminal will be allotted to a constable, who will keep track of their activity.
20-20 vision
Thane Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh initiated the programme in January, and issued orders to all 35 police stations in the Thane commissionerate. His game plan has already led to a significant drop in chain-snatchings in Thane since he took charge in March 2015. "In the last two years, we have almost entirely curbed chain-snatchings that used to occur frequently in the city. Now, we have started the Top-20 criminal list in every police station, where each constable will be given assigned one criminal," said Singh, adding that this would help them to keep track of hard-core criminals.
"In the last few months since the initiative was taken up, we have received good response at each police station, and the crime rate has fallen across jurisdictions. The target is to curb serious offences like extortion or assault. With a constable constantly following them around, there is considerable pressure on the criminal. They will either be caught before committing an offence or they will give up and change their ways," added Singh.
Three strikes
History-sheeters who have three or more serious offences to their name will automatically be bumped up to the T20 list. These offences include robberies, chain-snatchings, murder, dacoity, rioting, etc.
"If the crook continues with crime, he will be externed. If it is a hardened criminal involved in organised crime, he will be booked under the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act)," the cop added. From the original T20 list of chain-snatchers, 19 of the criminals faced action from the police – some were externed, others booked under the MCOCA.
"We will assign a constable to monitor the criminal. If he is in jail, then we will track the status of his case or court hearings, and whether he is getting bail? The constable should even visit the residence of the criminal and get familiar with his family and friends to keep tabs on him," said an officer.
VS Dolas, senior police inspector at the Central police station in Ulhasnagar, said, "Every week, or every second day, we look for updates on the accused; where he is and what he is doing. To ensure that the constable is meeting the criminal regularly, we ask the cops to click the criminal's picture too. Thanks to this initiative, the entire election month was peaceful, as we were able to curb petty crimes."
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