Crimes down in Hennur, as proactive residents take charge

Residents of Chikkanna Layout in Hennur and those living in the vicinity no longer fear walking in their locality.

 

Once notorious for chain-snatchings and other crimes, Hennur is now a safe locality. The efforts of Hennur Residents’ Welfare Association (HRWA), which set up a police chowki and recently installed closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at vulnerable spots, have paid off as people said that the number of crimes had drastically gone down. 

The HRWA decided to set up a chowki and cameras following a chain-snatching that took place on a morning a year and a half ago. “A woman was robbed of her gold chain in the morning at Chikkanna Layout. Although the Hennur police managed to apprehend the thief, the incident left the residents, especially women, terrified.
 There were chain-snatchings earlier too, besides vehicle thefts and eve-teasing. Hence, we decided to set up a chowki and instal CCTV cameras,” said N Muniraju, the general secretary of the association. 

CCTV cameras have been installed at Muddanna Layout (one), Chikkanna Layout (three) and Sonnappa Layout (two). Data captured by the cameras is connected to a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) set up inside the chowki via cables. The DVR can record the data of one month, after which it is burnt onto a CD. The chowki, named ‘Janasnehi’, was set up a year ago while the cameras were installed recently, the residents said. 

G Nirmala, a home guard deployed at the chowki, said that presently ten personnel from the Hennur police station were on night patrol, with two officers manning one road. “During the day, I monitor the data on the DVR. At night, another home guard relieves me,” Nirmala added. 

VJK Bhaktavachalam, president of the HRWA, said they spent Rs five lakh on setting up the chowki and installing the cameras. “Some residents and sponsors helped us. The chowki has a UPS if there is a power outage. We are planning to instal cameras in all the localities coming under the Hennur police station limits in a phased manner,” he added. 

The HRWA members said it would be better if an assistant sub-inspector from the Hennur police station was deployed in their locality so they would not have to go to the station during emergency. 

‘Obscene’ messagesA Kannada film actor has made a complaint to police that someone has been sending her obscene messages on WhatsApp. 

Shravya, daughter of film maker Om Prakash Rao, lodged a complaint at the Vijayanagar police station on Wednesday. She said she had been getting the messages for the last few days and was very “disturbed and hurt.”