The masses actively fight and denounce crimes.

(Baonghean) - Through many cases, it can be seen that thanks to information from the masses, the police force has successfully solved many cases, arrested many criminals, contributing to ensuring security and order.

People denounce fugitives

Several months have passed since the Thanh Chuong District Police captured the wanted subject Dinh Van Thien, but the people of Thanh Yen Commune (Thanh Chuong) are still talking about the incident and reminding each other to be more vigilant. At the end of 2016, a stranger claiming to be a construction worker came to ask for work in the commune. Seeing that the subject had many suspicious signs, the people secretly reported to the police to monitor him. Using professional measures, the police quickly verified that this subject had many characteristics that matched the wanted subject provided by Nghe An Provincial Police.

On December 29, 2016, while he was working at Mr. Nguyen Dinh Vo's house (Yen Binh hamlet, Thanh Yen commune), the police arrested him. Through the struggle, the subject confessed that his name was Dinh Van Thien, residing in Quy Chinh 1 hamlet, Van Dien commune (Nam Dan), who had fled from serving his sentence for gambling and was wanted. He thought that by hiding in another area to work, he would be able to fool the police, but he did not expect that the people would discover his identity.

Thanh Chuong District Police collect information from people. Photo: Phuong Thao

The most recent was the special project to arrest subjects who frequently stole dogs by Hung Nguyen District Police at the end of May 2017. Receiving reports from people about dog theft, the police force quickly began the investigation. Taking initial information from people about the time and location of the crime, combining professional investigation measures, the police quickly arrested two subjects: Nguyen Manh Thao (born in 1999) residing in Hamlet 1B, Hung Linh Commune (Hung Nguyen) and Vo Hoai Son (born in 2000) residing in Hamlet 3, Nghi Cong Bac (Nghi Loc). These subjects confessed to having successfully carried out 4 dog thefts in Hung Nguyen District, 4 cases in Nghi Loc District with a total of 20 stolen dogs.

These are two of the typical cases in which people participated in the fight against and denounced crimes in recent times. In Thanh Chuong district alone, in 2016, the masses provided the local police with 276 valuable reports, helping the police from the commune to the district to resolve many cases with the right people, the right crimes, and in accordance with the law.

Not only in Thanh Chuong district, but the participation of people with the police force in fighting against crime can be clearly seen in many other areas in the province, contributing to ensuring security and order in the locality. What is more noteworthy is that people not only detect and denounce crimes but also, through communication channels with the police force, express their opinions and give suggestions on how to fight and prevent crimes.

Raising awareness of crime prevention

According to the police, people can contact the police force to report crimes in many different ways such as crime reporting mailboxes, hotlines, complaint letters or right at police forums to listen to people's opinions. However, the source of information reported by people through telegrams, complaints and forums is more than anything else, the number of information placed in mailboxes is not much. Currently, in the whole province, there are nearly 3,000 crime reporting mailboxes placed at police agencies of communes, wards, towns, and headquarters of public service units.

However, many crime reporting mailboxes in some agencies and units have not really been effective; some mailboxes have been "forgotten", with not a single piece of information reported for years. The reason for this situation is said to be because mailboxes are located at the grassroots level, so the control work also goes through more levels, so people still have the fear that the information will not reach the competent authorities. Moreover, the fact that mailboxes are located in public places, although convenient for people, also makes them feel insecure about the safety and confidentiality of the information source.

The police forum to listen to people's opinions was held at Khoa Da 1 hamlet, Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district. Photo: Phuong Thao

Understanding this psychology, at the dialogue forums between the police and the people organized periodically, the police force has arranged secret ballot boxes for people to report crimes. Information is filtered and can be received directly at the forum.

In addition, listening to opinions also has the effect of two-way reception, helping to strengthen the close relationship between the police force and the people. According to statistics from the police agency, the effectiveness of this method has increased significantly, the number of reports at the forums tends to be higher each period than the previous period. Currently, the organization of forums has been deployed synchronously throughout the province, depending on the actual situation, localities organize at the hamlet, commune level and appropriate periodic time.

The role of the masses in the fight against and reporting crimes cannot be denied, but according to the police, there are also many sources of false information that undermine the reputation and honor of individuals and groups involved. Meanwhile, reports from the people do not require the identity of the provider to be made public, making it difficult to handle these subjects.

Captain Nguyen Khac Hung - Team Leader of the People's Movement Guidance Team for Protecting National Security in Communes, Wards and Towns (Department PV28, Provincial Police) said that, by professional measures, the police force always has to screen and receive multi-dimensional information sources to determine correct and incorrect information. However, this also causes the authorities to waste time verifying and investigating sources of information that have no value.

Looking back at the results of people's struggle and crime reporting in the past time with the numbers of information sources provided, we can clearly see positive signs of people's awareness of participating in protecting public order and security. However, for a large area with many potential complex factors like Nghe An, this work needs to be promoted more effectively.

To do so, it is necessary to strengthen the implementation of many measures to propagate and educate people about their responsibility in repelling crime. For those who are still hesitant and afraid of retaliation and therefore do not actively participate, we must encourage them to fight, create peace of mind and trust in them. When people report crimes, it will help the police force quickly identify the subject, correctly assess the subject and propose directions for investigation and solving the case.

Phuong Thao