Winning back people's confidence with enhanced patrolling tops the list of priorities of D. Amarkesh, who took charge as the new city superintendent of police on Thursday.

For the 2013-batch Bihar-cadre IPS officer hailing from Andhra Pradesh, another area of concern is central Patna, comprising Shastri Nagar, Boring Road, Rajeev Nagar, Rajendra Nagar and other areas, which has witnessed spurt in theft, chain-snatching, biker gang-related crimes in the past few months.

Amarkesh told The Telegraph: "My priority will be to strengthen policing in Patna even in narrow lanes and colonies to check theft, house robberies and other crimes."

The SHO claimed though policing in Patna has tightened, in majority of cases, it has been confined to bust gangs of bootleggers. He added: "The shortage of police personnel is another reason behind police failing to crack keep tabs on thefts."

The new city SP met with deputy SP (town) Kailash Prasad, DSP (law and order) Shibli Nomani and DSP (secretariat) Ashok Chaudhary on Thursday.

Amarkesh has worked as a probationary officer in Patna in 2015. Just before he was posted as city SP, he served as sub-divisional police officer at Belsand in Sitamarhi district.