Concerned over frequent incidents of burglaries and organised thefts, various residents’ associations in the city and rural areas have called for increased vigil by the police, and stepping up night patrol by community policing squads in vulnerable areas. Requests to form more community patrol squads too have been placed before the police.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, night patrol under community policing schemes has been going at a slow pace. Additional duties given to patrol squads to contain the pandemic too resulted in the weakening of night patrol in many residential areas.

A residents’ association leader in the city said the night patrol by the police was earlier a big relief for residential areas, where a large number of elderly citizens live. Now, many of them were concerned about their safety, he added.

One of the main features of community policing was its special consideration for senior citizens living alone in the city and rural areas and extending them help. At the time of launching the scheme, there were also efforts on the part of beat officers to visit the elderly and extend them help.

A residents’ association member from Eranhipalam said there were even initiatives on the part of the police to fix safety alarms in senior citizens’ houses for their safety. “However, it could not cover all the needy ones. The cooperation of sponsors should be sought to go ahead with such initiatives,” he said.

Faulty cameras

Some of the residents’ association leaders expressed concern over the faulty functioning of surveillance cameras installed at various locations. The maintenance of CCTV cameras, which could be a primary source of evidence to track theft cases, should be undertaken at the earliest, they said.

Meanwhile, Station House Officers in some of the city police stations said there was no major change in night patrol or other surveillance activities after the outbreak of COVID-19. “Instead of frequent patrols, we have just shifted the priority to surprise inspections and it has been found very effective,” they claimed.