Enhanced security in malls

 The City police on Monday deployed additional police personnel at major shopping malls here, following the blast on Church Street on Sunday night.

The police have also held meetings with mall managers to heighten security inside their premises as a precautionary measure.

With a dozen policemen deployed outside Forum Mall in Koramangala, the General Manager of Mall Operations, Virendra Singh said they are now looking forward to deploying private armed security men inside their mall.

“God forbid, if there is any attack similar to the one in Sydney recently, our unarmed securitymen will not be able to face them. There is a need for armed security staff and we are planning to have at least two armed men by January 1, 2015. Although it is an additional cost for the mall, which also involves a thorough background check on the personnel, it has become a necessity now,” he said.

 He added that they have also requested the police to post armed policemen outside the mall.

He said that Forum Mall receives around 30,000 people, on an average, every day and they have over 150 security men with over 100 CCTV cameras. Though there are policemen in civil dress visiting the mall on a routine basis, there is a need for additional security, Singh added.

However, Dayananda Kumar, administration head at the Bangalore Central Mall located on Commissariat Road, said that they were hesitant to have armed men stating as it was risky. “We can hire armed securitymen, but there is a need for a thorough background-check of these personnel as it can lead to undue advantage to miscreants. However, we would want additional armed policemen outside the mall at least on weekends when there is a huge crowd,” he added. 

Additional policemen were also deployed outside Bangalore Central with policemen on Cheetah bikes taking turns to guard the mall.

At Garuda Mall, the police have asked the mall management to increase the number of CCTV cameras and to install luggage screening machines inside the mall.

M R Nandeesh, the marketing and leasing manager of the mall, said there are at least 100 securitymen guarding the mall during a shift.

Garuda Mall, located in the heart of the City, has around 40,000 visitors daily, on an average, and with the year-end holidays, the numbers are expected to increase.
Nandeesh said there are over 1,000 persons watching movies at a time in the mall with the last show ending at around 12:30 pm.