Whitefield residents to team up with cops to prevent crime

To prevent crimes and assist the police, Whitefield residents will launch their 'Neighbourhood Watch' (NW) programme soon. 

Under the 'Whitefield Rising' (WR) banner, citizens will carry out a host of activities like reporting suspicious activities to police, discuss crime prevention information shared by police during community events, respond to national concerns like terrorism and calamities, create awareness about crime investigation process and other duties. 

“This initiative is about getting citizens to work with police to prevent crime. Improved communication among neighbours, sharing of community best practices, or just being more aware of happenings and reporting to police, can help reduce crime,” said volunteer from WR, Anupama Kilaru.

The proposal was jointly mooted by police and  WR. Under the Neighbourhood Watch programme, regular crime watch meetings with representatives of various resident welfare associations and police representatives would be held.  

“ We are currently making a list of interested communities from Whitefield who want to be a part of the Neighbourhood Watch programme. Whitefield inspector Narasimha Murthy will prepare an action plan for its implementation,” said another volunteer from WR, Anjali Saini. 

As an introduction into the Neighbourhood Watch campaign, a meeting was held on Saturday wherein police officials, citizens and WR members took part. Around 50 residents, representing more than 30 housing complexes in the jurisdiction of Whitefield Police Station were given contact numbers of police officials from the station limits for their benefit. 

Members from WR, a citizens’ movement, said the number of WR members volunteering as traffic wardens is set to rise to 34 from the present 24. WR will also consider launching the Whitefield chapter of ‘CrimeStoppers’, which will provide a platform for people to speak up and report crime in anonymity.