Cops to put up banners to identify chain snatchers

Mumbai: Chain snatchers and their ilk are in for a shock when they venture out in the streets to steal from unsuspecting revellers this Ganpati: large banners with their portraits on every wall, providing locals sundry details about all their past misdeeds.

The Mumbai police commissioner has come up with a unique idea to cleanse areas that have become happy hunting grounds for chain snatchers and other miscreants. The commissioner has ordered all police stations in the city to put up banners displaying details and photographs of chain snatchers who frequent the areas in their jurisdiction.

The banners will be displayed in crowded areas, to alert citizens and also force the criminals to lay low or leave their favourite haunt.

The idea was the brainchild of the recently appointed police commissioner Dr Satyapal Singh, who felt that this would be a perfect method to make locals more alert and at the same time force criminals away.

"Such an initiative will make the locals aware about the criminals wandering in their areas. This will embarrass the criminals, making them stop committing crimes in the area," said a police officer.

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The banners would be providing the minutest information about the criminals, and the photographs will provide a face for the locals to identify.

Cops have already started gathering information on the chain snatchers, and the banners will be put up during the Ganpati festival, when crowds throng the streets for darshan.

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"These banners will be put up in crowded areas and in those spots where such crimes frequently occur. It will make the locals aware and the photographs will help. The banners will be put up all over the city during Ganesh otsav," said DCP Nisar Tamboli, spokesperson for Mumbai police.