SHILLONG: East Khasi Hills Police on Tuesday said that the anti-infiltration and verification drives in the city have acted as deterrent to thieves.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, East Khasi Hills SP M. Kharkrang said that the verification drives have sent a signal to criminal elements about police presence and this has resulted in reduction in theft cases, which otherwise were on the rise.
According to the police chief the verification drives have served the twin purpose of ensuring safety of the citizens in the wake of rise in theft cases and also helped in keeping a check on the presence of ‘foreigners’ in the city.
Kharkrang made it clear that genuine citizens would not be harassed in any manner while the drives are being conducted by the police.
The High Court of Meghalaya had, in a recent order, refused to interfere with the duty of the police in conducting the verification drives, and had only asked the police to ensure that no genuine or innocent citizen was harassed.
Asserting that people were cooperating with police during the drives, Kharkrang pointed out that after the verification drive was conducted on November 8 at Jhalupara, Nongsohphoh and Mawbah areas and documents of as many as 815 persons were verified, several people themselves approached the plice with documents to prove their nationality.
Verification drives were conducted in as many as 13 locations with a total number of 3,200 persons being examined out of which 252 persons were found to be without valid documents.
The police chief, however, mentioned that majority of these people had approached police with valid documents with the seven-day deadline and were let off.
The verification drives were conducted in several part of Shillong, Sohra, Shella and Dangar areas of East Khasi Hills District.
The SP also said that police had participated in several meetings with the citizens’ committees formed in various localities and the committees had endorsed the drive.
The police official, however, lamented that headmen of some localities were yet to verify the names of people residing in their localities and forward them to the respective police stations.