The spike in incidents of snatching mobile phones, gold chains, or bags full of cash in Guwahati raises questions over gaps in crime prevention in the capital city. Strengthening police-public relations is a pragmatic approach to the problem but requires meticulous planning and execution. Women, and particularly elderly women, are the soft targets of the snatchers’ gangs. Even though the city police have succeeded in apprehending members of such criminal gangs and recovering valuable items snatched by them, the recurrence of such incidents points towards security loopholes that allow the snatchers to roam free on the city streets without any fear for the law. This has created fear among residents of becoming the next victim of snatching. The modus operandi of the snatchers have remained the same: appearing on motorbikes from behind near their target and fleeing from the scene within seconds after snatching speeding at the top gear. The incidents occur during the morning hours, throughout the day, and after dusk. Lack of streetlights in some interior lanes makes it easier for the criminals to snatch and vanish in the darkness, as the victims are unable to notice any suspicious movement and take precaution. Often, people, while talking on their mobile phones as they walk on these streets, get immersed in conservation and become targets of the snatchers. Cautioning people to be more alert is not the solution, as public spaces must be made crime-free for residents and visitors in a city to feel safe. Talk to someone on the phone. There is no denying the fact that some irresponsible people, while talking on the phone, forget to stop using the phone while crossing the road and cause traffic nuisance. While an awareness drive on such behavioural correction is needed, people need to respond to urgent calls from a safer location along the streets, and the streets must be safe for them to take the calls, which may be from their family members, offices, or business oncerns. The priorities to make the city streets crime-free bring to the centre stage the measures adopted by the city police and administration and the improvements that can be made. For a fast-expanding city like Guwahati, which is growing rapidly both vertically and horizontally, police patrolling every street 24x7 is theoretically desirable but not possible to implement. The ever-growing population will outsize the police strength. Reviving neighbourhood watch committees in every locality will go a long way in helping city residents act as force multipliers for city policing. Unfortunately, the idea mooted by the city police as part of the concept of the concept of community policing has not been given due institutional push. The committees formed under the concept had not been effective, even though strong and cordial police-public relations can be witnessed during the festivals with residents’ bodies, such as Durga puja, and Bihu committees extending full cooperation to the police and district administration for peaceful and incident-free festival celebrations. The neighbourhood watch committees can be effective only when they reach out to every household in their respective locality, reminding public surveillance against any suspicious activity of anyone in the locality and promptly reporting it to the police or the committee. The city police keep issuing reminders to house owners to register details about the occupants of their rented properties so that the police can identify them from their database to ascertain if any criminal has taken shelter in the locality under the guise of an occupant or a tenant on rented premises. Follow-up on several crime cases in the city revealed that many owners do not report the details of the occupants or tenants to the police, who turned out to be criminals and were arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in crime incidents committed by them either at the rented premises or somewhere else in the city. An active neighbourhood watch committee can ensure that every household with rented properties strictly follows the security norm. This will at least significantly reduce the possibility of criminals or anyone with suspicious credentials being prevented from taking shelter in different localities. The residents’ committees can also put in place a system of night vigilance through hiring the services of security guards or by forming night volunteers’ squads in direct contact with the police patrolling teams of the nearest police station. This will require the system of calling the emergency numbers for police help to be refined and facilitate prompt arrival whenever their assistance is sought in a locality. The prompt arrival of police is crucial to boosting confidence in the residents’ committees to report crimes instead of ignoring some incidents outside their campus. A strong police-public network to make the localities safer at night will also strengthen public vigilance against crime during daylight hours. Strengthened community policing in Guwahati is an urgent need of the hour.