Gurgaon police to rope in vendors to curb crime

GURGAON: In a move to keep tabs on anti-social elements and criminals in residential colonies in new Gurgaon, the city police will now take the help of barbers, fruit and vegetable vendors, cobblers and washer men. The east district police have announced a cash prize between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 to those who help them catch criminals.
DCP (east) Vikas Arora said this was being done under its 'Public as Eyes and Ears of Police' programme.This programme is initially being implemented in east district which largely covers private colonies, including DLF, Unitech and Sushant Lok.
Arora said that 50 persons have been identified so far to function as the eyes and ears in each beat. However, cops are open to including members from RWAs. Arora said such vendors, who operate from the roadside, often happen to witness crimes. "They can work as our eyes and ears by informing us about the crime or incident. There are seven police stations in this police district and there are about 4-6 beats in each police station," the DCP said.
He said that the beat in-charge would interact with their informal agents every fortnight and the local SHO would hold a meeting every month. Similarly, the ACP concerned will meet them once in two months.
Subsequently, the DCP will also hold meeting with these informers once in three months. Arora said that these informers would be in regular touch with police and their names would not be disclosed. He said that they have already unearthed a gang of hashish smugglers and vehicle lifters with the inputs provided by such informers.
The east district police have also started a new scheme to hand out a receipt when a complaint is lodged with any of the police stations falling under its jurisdiction. The receipt will have the name and phone number of the investigating officer.
Arora said that till now no receipt was given to a complainant. He has also directed the SHOs of all the seven police stations to follow these orders meticulously and prominently display on the notice board that the complainant should ask for the receipt of the complaint he has lodged. Arora said that this would help make police officers more accountable and responsible.