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        This AC really cares for the welfare of the neighbourhood. Ever since he took charge of the Vadapalani Range, nearly a dozen meetings with local residents were organised in which public grievances were aired and police voluntarily took up the civic woes for representing to authority for immediate relief.

Assistant Commissioner V Sethu

'Public and social groups are most welcome to express their civic problems in their areas at the Resident Committee Meetings (RCM) in which councillors, inspectors and officials of various departments take part. In the past, we have taken up issues like electricity, metrowater and drainage on behalf of the residents with respective authority,' says V Sethu, Assistant Commissioner, Vadapalani Range at R8 Police Station. Under his command, RCMs were held at Vadapalani, Saligramam, Virugambakkam, Chinmaya Nagar, Alwarthirunagar, Janaki Nagar and Sridevi Kuppam in which MLAs and Deputy Commissioners of Police have participated in the face-to-face sessions with civic and welfare groups. Having taken charge on June 2006 for this range, Sethu has gone all out to improve the public-police rapport through 'community policing' in his jurisdiction. 'Each police station has now got nearly 20 youth (below 30 years) who do night patrolling with duty constables under the Friends of Police (FoP) concept. Also, as part of community policing, we are into solving many problems being faced by the residents to gain their confidence which would help us to detect and prevent crimes,' he explains.        At present there is no organised rowdyism in and around Vadapalani and 'we owe this record to our effective networking through community-based policing which had kept a check on law and order problems.' Moreover, through FoP network, the police are able to gather intelligence on criminals and the movement of anti-socials to nip their activity in nascent stage itself. More importantly, Sethu takes extra care to keep a vigil on the movement of immoral traffic which finds ready patronage in a locality awash with film studios and Kollywood artistes. 'We have a network of informers and decoys to clamp down on immoral activities and bust any form of vice dens involved in unlawful activities,' he states.

         On crime detection, Vadapalani Range has a good record. Out of 89 reported cases that include house break-ins, robbery, snatching, vehicle thefts and pocket-picking, among other forms of property thefts, 73 have been detected, a success ratio of 82 per cent in the year 2006. Also out of Rs 24 lakh worth of property lost, nearly Rs 18 lakh have been seized and restored to the owners in the last year, a recovery ratio of 76 per cent.

        To prevent burglary and other crimes, Sethu feels the public should be more alert and have a watch on suspicious-looking strangers and newcomers in their locality. 'When they are going out of town, the family has to inform the nearest police station for constables to keep a watch on the locked house during their beat patrols,' he says. For those living in apartments, he says a common alarm system have to be installed in the high rise complex for flat owners to alert the neighbours during exigencies. 'Every apartment should hire a reliable security at the entrance and they should report immediately to the welfare association the movement of strangers to prevent untoward incidents,' he insists.

        Recently as part of Samathuva Pongal, the Vadapalani Range invited the public, councillors and school students for a get-together and held a sports meet at the playground near Valasaravakkam Police station on the occasion of Maattu Pongal. 'We are overwhelmed by the success of the sports meet. Eight teams formed by youth residents took part in kabbadi and volleyball tournaments and prizes were distributed to all contestants. Nearly 200 people witnessed the games that began early morning to last till 2 pm on that day,' Sethu informs.

        The Law and Order force comprising yellow (day time patrol by motorcycles) and blue (for night time) brigades, wing patrol by Accent car and nearly 50 constables is also diverted to regulate traffic in rush hours and for bandobust duties.

        For complaints and immediate aid for exigencies, public at Vadapalani and its extended neighbourhood can contact: Vadapalani Police station at Ph no: 2480 3738; Virugambakkam station at Ph no: 2376 4107; and Valasaravakkam station at Ph no: 2486 7189. Assistant Commissioner V Sethu is available at mobile no: 99400 79793.