Four attempted ATM robberies within its limits since June this year have set alarm bells ringing for the Ernakulam Rural police.
In June, two attempts were made in Njarakkal and Koothattukulam targeting the ATMs of State Bank of India (SBI) and ESAF Small Finance Bank. This was followed by an attempt to break into a Federal Bank ATM at Vazhakkulam by a three-member gang in August and another attempted robbery at an SBI ATM at Kizhakkambalam in October.
Alarmed by the recent spate of attempted ATM robberies, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik convened a meeting recently and asked representatives of various banks to plug the loopholes in their security systems and put up more cameras inside and outside ATMs, at least in rural areas.
Security audit
“We have asked them to conduct a security audit and upgrade the security system since in some cases alarm was either not generated at all or generated after quite some delay, by which time the perpetrators who had made the attempt had already left. In the latest case at Kizhakkambalam, the control room was alerted about the incident only half-an-hour after the incident reportedly owing to some network issues,” Mr. Karthik told The Hindu .
Presence of migrants
He also drew attention to the challenge posed by the large migrant population in the district rural limits. “Often the migrants found involved in such cases were found to have criminal antecedents. They can easily melt into the large concentration of migrant community here unobtrusively and slip out with equal ease after committing the crime. We will join hands with Health and Labour departments so that every employer accounts for the migrants they employ,” said Mr. Karthik.
K.S. Krishna, national joint secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, said it was high time that the policy governing ATMs was reviewed. “The operation of ATMs should be restricted to safe public spaces like hospitals, bus stations or shopping malls, especially during nights which is advisable both for the safety of ATMs and the people using them.
“ATMs along isolated stretches should at least be shut down during nights and banks should notify customers about the nearest ATM at a safer place,” he said.
Mr. Krishna said ATMs at isolated places was an inducement for anti-social elements to target them and even an armed guard could be of little use if an organised gang got to work.
K.R. Jayaprakash, the former district lead bank manager, called for a system of interlinking the security cameras at ATMs with the police stations concerned. Pointing out the futility of having multiple ATMs of a same bank in a locality, he said the possibility of pooling them together and bringing under collective security should be explored.
A majority of banks withdrew security guards for ATMs a few years ago as part of cost-cutting measures. Mr. Jayakumar, however, said the quality of service of the security guards was not always dependable.
