Police employ thieves to catch thieves
In a novel experiment, the Kanpur police has decided to set out a thief to catch a thief. "Who knows a criminal better than someone who has been a criminal himself? A former criminal knows the tricks of the trade like the back of his hand and if we take him into confidence, he can help us catch other criminals," said SSP Kanpur, Anand Swaroop. The Kanpur SSP plans to use former criminals who are now inactive due to age and ill-health in this new project that is called "history-sheeter friend". The SSP has asked all police station heads in Kanpur to furnish a list of old criminals and history sheeters who have been inactive for quite some time now. "Once identified, I will take them into confidence and ask them to share their knowledge with the local police so that crime can be checked," he said. According to police estimates, there are about 5,000 such "inactive" criminals in Kanpur alone and many of them still maintain a contact with t