With Dasara festival around the corner both the city police and the district police have initiated a few measures to keep burglars at bay.
Be it festivals like Dasara, Sankranti or Christmas, there is a spurt in the incidences of house break-in. As per the records there is a spurt in burglaries by 10 % during the festive season, as most of the inmates tend to go to their natives places leaving the houses locked.
According to DCP (Crime), Visakhapatnam City Police, Shemushi Bajpai, the offenders look for the festive season and they conduct a recce of the locked houses in the city and strike at the appropriate time. “But to keep them at check we have initiated a few steps for this Dasara season,” she told The Hindu.
According to the DCP, all SHO (station house officers) across the police stations have been told to be alert and the crime teams have been given specific orders to increase the patrolling.
“But at the same time we need cooperation from residents. We have asked all people who leave the station on holidays to visit the nearest police station and submit a letter stating the address and the number of days they would be out of station. Once the application is received, we will increase the frequency of the beats in that area and also our men would check on the locked houses. But the response has been lukewarm,” said Ms. Shemushi.
Apart from asking the people to approach the police stations, the crime branch of the city police plans to increase the number and frequency of the lurking beat.
This apart, the law order beats will continue their patrolling as usual.
On the other hand the district police have sought the help of technology by starting the Locked Houses Monitoring System (LHMS).
All that one has to do is to download the LHMS app from Google Playstore, register and the applicant will receive an user id and password. “Thereafter, just click on the ‘request for police watch’ and specify the area and dates of absence from the house. After we receive the request, we will install a CCTV camera in the house, which will be monitored from the Control Room. The moment we notice something suspicious an alert will be sent to the nearest patrol team and they will reach the spot within minutes,” said Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev Sharma.
In the last one month, about 4,950 people have registered through the LHMS app and as many as 96 people have sought for police watch.
Sources say the registration is on the rise with the approaching festive season. The district police have a stock of about 50 CCTV cameras and they are focussing in Anakapalle and Narsipatnam, as the areas record more house break-ins.