“When you go out of station for summer holidays, alert us. We will guard your house” is the appeal being made by the city police for preventing house burglaries.
“At the same time, we want the cooperation of the public to keep a check on burglaries. We will intensify patrolling and keep a vigil on houses if residents alert the nearest police station when they go on vacation,” says a police officer.
In fact, police are tracking the movement of criminals, ex-convicts and robber gangs in the city.
Instructions have already been issued for intensifying beats and patrolling vulnerable areas. “We request residents and colony and apartments associations to alert police on movement of strangers. People can seek police protection for their houses when they are out of station. We are cautioning and educating them to help us curb the menace during summer,” City Police Commissioner B. Srinivasulu says.
Criminals ‘watch’ police for the right moment
For the Railway Police, preventing theft on trains is proving an arduous task, as it is the miscreants themselves who keep a tab on security personnel and strike during change of guard (by security personnel) between stations. Also, staff shortage in both the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Protection Force helps thieves carry out their nefarious.
Another tricky issue is the mandatory repatriation of police personnel who have completed three years service in the GRP to their parent departments.
Unauthorised travel of anti-social elements in reserved compartments allegedly with the help of some ticket examiners is needs to be curbed, as thieves can effortlessly steal passengers’ belongings and escape without even having an iota of suspicion.
GRP Superintendent of Police Ch. Syam Prasad says unfilled vacancies are his. biggest headache. He duly blames ‘improved network of criminals’ for the recent spree of burglaries in trains in the division, most of which took place in Guntur district.
