Cops meet hotel, mall representatives on security for festive season

Chennai: The top brass of the city police held a meeting on Monday  with representatives of multiplexes, shopping malls and star hotels in the city, advising them to enhance security arrangements ahead of the festive season.

Commissioner T.K. Rajendran presided the meeting at his office in which more than 70 representatives from malls and multiplexes participated. The meeting comes in the wake of hoax threats to the Express Avenue shopping mall in Royapettah, police said. With surplus crowd expected to throng these places in the coming days, the Commissioner has directed the security arrangements to be watertight, a senior police official privy to the meeting said.

Installation of CCTV cameras at prominent places in the malls was discussed and it was emphasized that a surveillance control room be set up with dedicated personnel to monitor the feeds throughout the day. “We have advised them to install high resolution cameras in parking lots and also install additional cameras in common areas and approach roads,” the officer added.

Police have also asked administrators to ensure that all vehicles and baggages are thoroughly checked and appointing able-bodied men as security guards. “They were advised to report any suspicious baggage, threat calls, movement of suspicious persons to either the nearest police station or the police control room,” an officer said.