Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Police can open fire in emergency: Vijay Kumar

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI April 18. The police are empowered to open fire in an emergency and it does not require any special order, the City Police Commissioner, K. Vijay Kumar, told mediapersons today.

The Commissioner sounded this warning in the wake of several burglaries being reported in the city. He said the police would be only exercising legal provisions, if they had to use firearms to protect life and property. He assured the residents that the police were taking all steps for their safety and there was no need for any alarm following reports about the crime incidents.

Commenting on the spate of crimes, Mr. Vijay Kumar said ``I don't deny there is an upswing in crime. It is only a passing phase and will come down''.

To a question why the Commissioner cannot give a direct warning about opening fire against criminals, Mr. Vijay Kumar said ``the message is clear'' and did not elaborate.

Listing out the various measures being taken by the police for tackling crime in the city, Mr. Vijay Kumar said ``there has been an increase in the crimes, but it is nothing unusual and will be curbed. It will not continue to rise but will fall''.

``We are adopting a two-phased strategy for curbing crime — prevention and detection. Special Action Groups led by sub-inspectors have been formed as part of the new initiative''.

The Commissioner said ``grey areas have been identified on the city's outskirts and the police have an excellent system of sharing information with the Chengai-East district. There have been several cases when we have caught criminals involved in cases in that district and vice versa''.

Mr. Vijay Kumar said the crime rate in Chennai was low compared to other metros. While 510 murders were reported in Delhi and 295 in Mumbai last year, in Chennai 85 cases were reported. Similarly, 776 robberies were reported in Delhi and 406 in Mumbai but in Chennai it was only 127. While 876 cases of chain snatching were recorded in Delhi and 724 in Mumbai last year, in Chennai 191 cases were reported.

When it was pointed out that complainants were made to wait for several hours at police stations to meet the inspector and victims received hostile treatment, the Commissioner said ``we will look into the matter and proper instructions will be given to the personnel''.

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