Officers placed on subway pickpocket duty for summer

Local police will ramp up efforts to crack down on subway pickpockets this summer, when victims are more prone to theft, a senior public security official said yesterday.

The city plans to increase the current undisclosed number of officers stationed at subways to about 500 plainclothes officers for security checkpoints at stations, and to some 2,000 uniformed officers at busy stations during peak hours, Zhu Weiming, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, said during a local radio program.

"We're taking pickpockets seriously because we usually see the number of theft cases on subways rise with the onset of summer, when people tend to wear less clothing, making their wallets and belongings more visible as targets to thieves," he said.

Zhu said that teams of officers will also be assigned to watch live feeds of video surveillance from stations to keep a close eye on the situation.

They will be directed to act quickly and cooperate with officers on the ground, if needed, he added.