SHILLONG: The biggest challenge for the city police now is not tackling militancy, but the growing menace of theft cases.
At least ten cases of theft are being reported from parts of city everyday as police struggle to contain the crime.
East Khasi Hills SP M Kharkrang said that police have increased vigil during night hours to restrict the unscrupulous elements from taking advantage of the situation.
“We have arrested several people and recovered goods from them,” the SP added.
As per police reports, those who commit thefts range from juveniles to migrant workers and stolen items include electrical goods including cell phones and laptops, gold ornaments and other household materials.
The target of the criminals is mostly posh localities of the city.
Educational institutions including the NEHU have also come under the attack of these criminals.
Police recently busted a gang which included a woman who had connections with drug users as according to police, the arrested people sold stolen goods to purchase drugs.
Despite the arrests the number of cases does not seem to drop.
There are trained SOT personnel to tackle militancy, but police are yet to form a crack team to bust other crimes especially related to thefts in city, sources said.
A government official recently said that there is a need to conduct a study on whether the theft cases have anything to do with the growing unemployment problem in the city.
The power crisis that had hit the city resulting in hours of load shedding has also resulted in an increase in the number of theft cases.
It is believed that these thieves are basically burglars.
In the past, when theft cases were on the rise, a trend of people keeping vigil at night in certain localities had emerged. But the same only brought further fear among the residents as wrong people were assaulted or taken into custody more often than not.
A city resident recently said that the police can be more pro-active by way of increasing the patrol especially at night in vulnerable localities to ensure better safety.
Regular interaction of police with the elders of the localities is another option, he added.