SSP to man crime mail box

LUCKNOW: If you thought that the cops were insensitive; thanas made you nervous; or were scared of lodging a complaint for the fear that you may have to face retaliation, then how about writing a letter straight to the Senior Superintendent of Police.
SSP, Lucknow, Kamal Saxena, has devised a novel way to check the skyrocketing of petty crime in the state capital."There are many who do not have a criminal record, but use fear psychosis to meet their goal. People are too scared to protest against them, fearing retaliation. By writing a simple letter of complaint to me, people can remain completely anonymous if they wish to," says Saxena.
To facilitate this method, Saxena applied and got a personal post box number. Anyone who wishes to report any petty crime or has a complaint against anyone can simply write to the SSP. "My post box number is 350/2004. All that anyone has to do is just write. There will be complete secrecy as the post box will be under my control and only I will check the mails," says Saxena.
During his two-year tenure at Janupur, Saxena had successfully implemented this scheme in 1996 and had managed to bring crime under control. "I can''t say that crime will be curbed in toto. But there will be a concept of a neighbourhood policeman. This will also help us refresh our database," says Saxena. Incidents like eve-teasing, chain-snatching or a major crime like kidnapping can be reported to the police via mail, if the person is scared to reveal his/her identity.
"Criminals target areas where non-working youngsters stay. They stay with them and easily plan crimes like kidnapping and robbery. If the people want they can report any suspicious happenings making our task easier. This will help us identify and bust such criminals," explains Saxena.
Saxena also has an appeal to the public. "I want people to write in a responsible manner. They should provide correct information and not play pranks as that would waste precious time of the police and also could go against some innocent individual," he says.
The post box will be functional next week onwards, says Saxena. "I guess I can start receiving letters from next week as I have been told by the postal department." But what if some see this idea as a popularity gimmick? To this Saxena replies, "This is just to ensure safety of citizens of Lucknow. I have not even publicised it till now. What popularity can I expect from this?"