The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Open season for burglaries is here

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2007
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Open season for burglaries is here

L. Srikrishna

Ensuring safety of locked homes during vacation season poses a challenge for police

CHENNAI: Come summer and many families go out on extended vacations, confident that their locked houses, and the valuables inside them, are safe. However, the holiday season is also the season for burglars to work overtime.

With many families utilising the period to visit their hometowns or tourist destinations, a substantial number of homes in the city remain locked at one point or the other during the season. Many such homes are turning soft targets for burglars, and police find it difficult to ensure that the houses are fully protected.

At a time when the city has been witnessing robbery and house break-in offences sporadically, locking homes for periods of 20 to 30 days and more could be risky, it is pointed out. The risk is more for those in independent homes situated in the suburbs, and who do not have a security guard, police said.

Awareness needed

A senior officer told The Hindu here on Tuesday that at a recent meeting, the Assistant Commissioners of Police and Inspectors dealing with crime investigation cases were instructed to keep tabs on the locked homes in their areas of jurisdiction.

The officers, he said, were briefed about the need to create awareness among residents about the need to inform the nearest police station before going on vacation, he added.

At a crime review meeting, it was found that many house break-in cases reported in Anna Nagar, Adyar, Ambattur, St. Thomas Mount, T. Nagar and Mylapore were still under investigation. Many Inspectors of Police said that though fingerprints were lifted from the spots, they did not tally with those available with the Finger Print Bureau.

According to a senior officer, some local offenders now dodge the police net by deploying proxy-accomplices from neighbouring districts to burgle houses.

In such cases, fingerprints lifted from the scene of crime may not aid the investigation. The booty too would have been moved out of the city, making the task of tracing it difficult.

In a bid to gain leads on house break-in cases, police has now launched a drive to secure known habitual offenders for questioning. In the last 10 days alone, the city witnessed minor complaints of robbery and house break-in incidents from the limits of the Rajamangalam, Tiruvanmiyur and Maduravoyal police stations. Gold, electronic gadgets, mobile phones and cash were reported missing. Similarly, locked TASMAC retail outlets in the K.K. Nagar, Neelankarai, Tiruvanmiyur areas reported the disappearance of cash.

Residents said they would feel safer if police stepped up night patrolling. There is a feeling in the suburbs that the visibility of police is too low to serve as a deterrent to crime.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu