The appearance of kind passengers helping old people get in and out of buses or carrying heavy bags for others is now a familiar sight on some regular bus routes.
Once in a while, these casually dressed passengers reveal their real colours - and real strength - by pouncing on petty thieves or preventing would-be robbers from stealing other passengers' belongings.
Only the bus crews know these kind passengers are actually plainclothes police officers from the PC45 group under Hanoi Police Department. The group was set up in 1946 under a different name, but its bus operations only began in earnest last year. Its job is to prevent social crimes throughout the capital.
Since early last year, transit police, known as "Trinh Sat" in Vietnamese, have co-operated with the Ha Noi Transit Service Company in placing police on hundreds of bus routes starting at two busy terminals and from 60 bus interchanges, including those in Cau Giay and Long Bien districts.
"These are the most crowded stops in the city - and it's where the most thefts occur," said Nguyen Viet Chuc, deputy head of PC45.
Chuc said petty criminals on buses were mostly drug addicts seeking ways to pay for heroin and other drugs. Most have migrated to Ha Noi and many have criminal records.
"Many are infected with HIV/AIDS, so they often act in unexpected ways and strongly resist police officers," said Chuc.
"They are also very experienced and often recognise plainclothes police. We therefore have to frequently switch teams to different routes," he added.
Do Truong Giang, 23, a regular passenger at Cau Giay bus interchange, said it made him angry to see thieves stealing people's belongings, but he was usually too frightened to do anything to stop them.
"I myself was once robbed. I think the plainclothes police are great. It must make these criminals take notice," Giang said.
During the last 12 months, the 30 ‘Trinh Sat' members of PC45 have caught 36 criminals and uncovered dozens of crimes. Interestingly they also discovered some crimes conducted by bus drivers and their assistants, such as trying to steal the bus wheels or selling fake bus tickets. Tran Thuy, deputy head of Ha Noi Police Department said while the number of cases discovered by the transit police was modest, it did not fully reflect the facts.
Thuy requires the undercover men to report on new tricks bus criminals are using so that policemen in districts can take appropriate action.
He has also asked Hanoi Transit Service Company to post police "hot lines" on buses so passengers can make instant reports from their mobile phones.
At present, passengers can report alleged crimes to police on 097 777 8189. Three more hot lines will be provided next month.
"And the bus company need to scan their employees more thoroughly," Thuy added.
Source: VNS