Surat cops seek hawkers’ help to curb crime

In the meeting,the hawkers were explained to keep an eye on the people who come to their shops. Giving details about the modus operandi of the criminals,the hawkers were told that such criminals use to do recce before committing any crime and even they stand and smoke in front of the street stalls. The hawkers after spotting such suspected persons should contact the police and give information,police officials said. The hawkers were also told to listen to their talks and keep in mind and immediate inform police.

Surat police commissioner Rakesh Asthanna said,“This attempt is a part of community policing. The reason for starting such scheme is: the police department is running short-staffed and it is difficult for us to detect and prevent crime in the city. We decided to make the hawkers as our members and put hawk-eye scheme,so that they could be helpful to us in giving information and we could immediately react.

“We will continue carrying out meetings in different zones to make the hawkers more aware. Apart from these,we are going to include autorickshaw drivers in this scheme in coming days so that they can also provide information to us.”

Hundreds of people migrate from other states to Surat in search of job and along with them many criminals also migrate and stay in the city and after committing crimes,they escape. Surat police learnt about such pattern while detecting cases of robbery,theft,chain snatching etc. After the launch of the concept a couple of months ago,till now the police had made around 900 registered members under the scheme.