Around 4.30 a.m on May 1, the regular milk vendor deposited milk packets in the cloth bags hanging on the gates of houses, on 53rd and 54th Streets in Officers' Colony in Mogappair. Ten minutes later, a “milk packet collector” arrives on the scene, removes the milk packets from these bags and decamps with the loot in a bike.
A few hours later, residents discover that 22 milk packets have gone missing from seven houses.
With CCTV cameras installed across the neighbourhood, the theft has been captured in images. With restrictions on the movement of residents due to lockdown, many residents’ groups depend on CCTV cameras to ensure safety in the locality.
"As our lone security guard is absent due to lockdown for more than a month, we depend entirely on CCTV cameras to keep an eye on goings and the movement of strangers in our neighbourhood. Since the lockdown began, every day, a few members of our residents association screen the previous day's CCTV footage to take stock of the safety situation in the locality. Whenever necessary, we also inform residents about what was noticed in the footage, through WhatsApp," says V. Rajagopal, president, Anna Nagar Western Extension Phase – II Residents Welfare Association,
Residents say that installation of CCTV cameras in the locality, which includes Officers’ Colony and TVS Colony in Anna Nagar Western Extension, have been a key factor in instilling a sense of security in residents. The neighbourhood has 20 CCTV cameras, each with a storage capacity equalling 21 days of recording. The netowork of CCTV cameras cover all the 12 streets in the locality.
In fact, with the number of CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood steadily increasing since 2013, the number of security guards has reduced from three persons to one.
In Ambattur, there are many apartment complexes that invest in CCTV cameras, and at least a couple of cameras installed at an apartment complex are directed towards the road.
In Thiruvengada Nagar, off CTH Road, most of the CCTV cameras in operation are those that have been installed by residents of apartment complexes; only eight cameras have been installed by the residents’ association.
“We get feedback from individual apartment complexes on the CCTV footage every day. We also have a few security guards who alert about the movement of people in public places within the neighbourhood. Since the lockdown, there haven’t been any petty thefts or acts of crime in our locality. Yet, we will continue to monitor our CCTV cameras regularly,” says S. Suresh, secretary, Thiruvengada Nagar Residents Welfare Association.
Consising of 138 plots spread across 10 streets, Thiruvengada Nagar supports a population of 1000 families. Most of the residents are employed in government sectors and at the industrial units in Pattaravakkam, Athipet and Ambattur. The neighbourhood is located between Ambattur and Korattur lakes on the elevated landscape.
Regular monitoring
Three decades ago, in the early 1980s, residents of Thiruvengada Nagar would go on night patrolling in the neighbourhood.
In Pattabiram near Avadi, residents have installed more than a dozen CCTV cameras and check the footage regularly. Now, the police are informed about the movement of vehicles including trucks and cars, on daily basis after checking the footage in the cameras — residents do this to check the unnecessary movement of people during lockdown.
