Siren drive falls on deaf ears

Residents not ready to instal alerts as advised by police

The initiative of the City police, asking residents to instal sirens in their houses to alert neighbours or police on patrol if confronted by criminals, has come a cropper.

The police, as part of crime prevention month in December 2011, undertook an awareness campaign asking residents, especially home alone women and senior citizens, to instal the battery-operated siren systems at home.

The police had put up banners across the City to disseminate information about the siren system, besides creating awareness about the initiative at the public consultation meetings.

Ten months later, there has been least response to the siren drive, say the police.
Basaveshwaranagar police inspector Geetha Kulkarni told Deccan Herald that no one in the jurisdiction of her station had installed the siren in their homes. The response is no different in the jurisdictions of the Koramangala, Jalahalli and Banashankari stations.

A senior police officer in the Bangalore East division said the system demonstration by companies manufacturing the instrument at public consultation meetings had borne no fruit.

“In some areas, residents wanted funding assistance for installing sirens. However, we have no scope for such financial assistance from the department side,” he said.

Cops said battery-operated sirens were available with an audible range of one to three km and they operated with a minimum power of six volts.

E T Ponnukuttan, joint secretary of Eshanya Bangalore Nagarika Kalyana Mahavedike, said there was a need to involve elected representatives and NGOs to make the drive a success.

Ponnukuttan, who also represents Richards Town Citizens Association, said there was a demonstration of a battery-operated siren in their locality a few months ago.

No follow-up

“However, there was no follow-up done by the authorities. Since senior citizens and home alone women are involved, awareness needs to be created at the individual level. Also not everyone can afford the cost of the machine, which runs into thousands of rupees,” he said.

A senior official with the Home department felt there was need for a larger awareness when it comes to safety of home alone women and senior citizens and the siren idea could just be a supplement.

“There have been several murder cases of home alone women and senior citizen when they allowed strangers to get in, without ascertaining their credentials or by falling prey to their tricks. Once the criminal is inside, no siren can help the inmates,” he said.