Obviously, while the crimes committed by extortionists and musclemen have registered a sharp decline, murders and mugging remain a source of great worry to citizens. Over the past week, two government officials and a Supreme Court lawyer have been murdered in the city, let alone a high bank official in Dhamrai, which only point to relapsing into lawlessness, or the law enforcers failing to make their presence felt the way people would like them to. There was a kind of improvement in the crime situation immediately after the caretaker government took over which seems to be now tapering off.

The chief adviser has rightly emphasised the need for better coordination among the law enforcement agencies and also decided to form a "Coordination Committee" to reinforce the anti-crime operations.

There are vulnerable areas. For example, the security guards, often appointed under a package deal with a company, themselves are not always above suspicion. The appointment of such guards should be made only after a thorough scrutiny of their backgrounds and records. This is a vitally important job, but the issue has not yet drawn the kind of attention it ought to have. Uniform standards must be set for private security companies and those applied scrupulously.

Community participation in beefing up security at the local levels must have to be encouraged. Police patrol needs to be revved up. Alongside, public awareness campaigns will have to be undertaken so that people can stop falling prey to thugs, especially while travelling.

One would expect that the government's campaign against corruption should not distract law enforcement agencies from being focused on a firm handling of the crime situation.