12 Kolkata: Multiple incidents of crime in the city, involving criminals from outside, have led Lalbazar is considering several measures, including joint raids in neighbouring states, active sharing of information, identifying and apprehending local contacts and increasing ground-level intelligence to gather information on illegal activities by "outsiders" to stop the crimes in the city committed by criminals from outside the state.
Quick resolution of cases, backed by arrests, has also been cited as a method to deter interstate criminals.
Whether it was the attempted murder of Kasba councillor Sushanta Ghosh, the snatching on APC Roy Road or the arrest of five persons from UP in Sealdah barely 48 hours ago, the city has been witness to a spate of street crimes, in which the culprits were all from other states. Cybercrimes committed against Kolkatans are also on the rise.
Wednesday saw the police top brass asking the force to get cracking on two aspects—stopping snatchings and carrying out maximum preventive arrests. While discussing the long-term responses, using AI-driven face recognition systems as a response to control crimes also came up. "We are using more AI-driven software that will monitor crowds and help reduce crimes, like snatching and pickpocketing," said an officer. "If CCTVs help us trace criminals, this software will help alert cops about suspects' movements. If the project is successful, we will introduce the software across the city and increase the number of cameras to 500," said a detective department officer.
Pointing out developing intelligence at multiple levels was important, KP commissioner Manoj Verma had said on Tuesday that they were ready to tackle the challenge, with raids taking place following intelligence collection. "Every state sees an influx of people from other states, and it is the police's job to identify the criminals among them," he said, adding KP specialised units had been holding raids outside the state.