In a bid to prevent chain snatching incidents in crowded areas, the Chennai city police have come up with a novel idea and have been distributing scarves to women shoppers. The idea was conceived by Deputy Commissioner of Police, T. Nagar, D.N. Kiran Prasad. As most chain snatching incidents take place in crowded areas when women are busy shopping, the scarves would prevent chain snatchers from snatching chains.
Police personnel were stationed at entry points to check the temperature of the people before allowing them to enter into the shops. Each day around 500 scarves are distributed. Around 1200 CCTV cameras have been set up on Usman Road and Ranganathan street in T. Nagar near the Mambalam Railway Station. These cameras have facial recognition feature that helps to recognise the presence of history sheeters in the crowd.
