Unified Commissionerate for better policing

CHENNAI:  The AIADMK government’s announcement on Thursday in the Assembly on the formation of a Greater Chennai police commissionerate, by merging the suburban police with the city police, was welcomed by the police fraternity as a strategic move to bring in uniformity in policing to address the changing nature of crime during globalisation.Announcing this on Thursday, finance minister O Panneerselvam said the commissionerate would have four zones—north, south, central and west—for better administration.The Chennai suburban commissionerate formed during the previous DMK regime in 2008 had not contributed positively to better policing, he claimed. As such, the government was going back to the Greater Chennai police commissionerate introduced in 2005 during the then AIADMK rule, explained Panneerselvam.Three police districts— Ambattur, St Thomas Mount and Maduravoyal—comprising the suburban commissionerate are likely to be bro­ught under the west zone.Senior police officials also pointed out another possibility that Adyar, Mylapore and St Thomas Mount might be brought under one zone.However, the officials added that the matter was only at the discussion stage and only after examining various administrative aspects, the government would present a clear picture of the Greater Chennai police commissionerate.Returning to the Greater Chennai concept would bring in uniformity in thinking, common instructions and im­ple­mentations, they said.  Moreover, in the existing system, police personnel were not attending to crime cases immediately, pointing out jurisdictional problems.  For instance, many chain-snatching incidents occurred in Anna Nagar, but instead of attending to the cases, the police would make the victims run from pillar to post quoting jurisdictional issues.  While the Anna Nagar police would refer the case to the Korattur police station of the suburban commissionerate, the latter would refer the case back to Anna Nagar, said a senior official.The new system would put an end to such irresponsibility on the part of the police personnel, he added.  Senior police officials said people need not worry that they could not submit their complaint directly to the city police commissioner because the city commissionerate is located for away from suburban localities.