As burglaries rise, Medchal cops rope in locals for policing

HYDERABAD: With house burglaries on the rise in the past few days, the Medchal police have roped in residents of the area to join them in policing.  During the Sankranti week alone, burglars targeted 10 houses. Though patrolling was intensified after the incidents, the burglaries continued. 

On Saturday night, more than 25 people joined the police for night patrolling, and the number is likely to increase on Sunday night, said M Praveen Reddy, inspector, Medchal police station under the Cyberabad commissionerate. Usually, night patrolling teams cover all localities in their police station limits and are on the move throughout the night.

At Medchal, the police observed that burglars targeting locked houses would track the movement of patrolling teams, and strike in a colony as soon as the teams left that colony.  After observing this pattern of thefts, the cops decided to bring in people from each locality to control the menace.“Though we are on the field full time, we cannot be at a particular place or a colony for a long time. So we thought people could us help to secure their localities,” Praveen Reddy said. From Saturday, the police started collecting details of people willing to join the initiative and conduct foot patrolling in their respective colonies. 

“The field teams would be in constant touch with these community teams and coordinate their movements. We are also briefing them to not do anything which may cause them harm, and to immediately alert the police if they notice anything suspicious,” Reddy added.