CATs are on the prowl at night

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Beware, a different kind of police, CATs are on the prowl in the southern parts of the city.

Members of the Criminal Apprehension Teams (CAT) working under the supervision of joint commissioner of police, south, K.P. Shanmugharajeswaran, will operate from 1 am to 5 am in civvies without any visible police accessories to catch criminals who are active at that time.

“Every police station in the south will have one or two CATs roaming in the areas under their jurisdiction, apart from regular beat patrolling. We are doing it for the last 20 days.

The result is positive as at least two criminals were caught with booty while trying to escape during the past few days,” said Mr Shanmugharajeswaran.

“They are not on crime prevention but for crime detection. They inform the control room as soon as they start working and finally report to the local assistant commissioner at 5 am.

The timing is important because that is the period when the criminals operate in the city,” the official added.

The CATs are free to travel in the vehicle they prefer. They can use cycle, bike or even tourist taxis. They will not be using police vehicle and uniform.

Unlike regular patrol teams and vehicle checking teams, CATs will have no specific place to base their work. The basic idea is to spring a surprise using the CATs. They can surface at unexpected places at unexpected time, the official said.

The police top brass is also planning to increase the number of CATs depending on the result from the teams functioning now.