Techies victims in 90% of cybercrimes reported in and around Whitefield: Police

IT employees are the victims in nearly 90% of cybercrimes registered in Whitefield and the surrounding areas, according to police. 

S Girish, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield), noted this while speaking at Samparka Divasa, a grievance redress meeting organised jointly by the Bengaluru City police and the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) in the tech hub on Wednesday. 

The meeting was held as a precursor to Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara’s meeting with IT and BT companies. Representatives from various IT and BT companies attended the meeting. 

Girish said: "OTP, OLX and job frauds are the major cybercrimes being reported regularly. IT employees fall prey to these traps despite possessing technical knowledge. It just shows their innocence," he said. 

Domestic violence, road rage, laptop theft, and missing cases are also reported in large numbers from the Whitefield police division, he added. 

"A lot of apartment complexes and IT companies don't have strict security checks though they have security systems in place. Police will soon conduct a security audit and hold the administration accountable, if there are flaws," Girish stated. 

The officer asked citizens to own the street where they live and its problems and keep in touch with the police. He also urged them to take up social responsibility and join hands with the police to effectively tackle the problems of law and order. He suggested that IT companies and police collaborate to open a cybercrime research lab. 

Traffic woes

The meeting saw the ORRCA representatives raise a plethora of problems pertaining to traffic. 

Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda had a witty reply: "Traffic is like cricket. Everyone has an opinion about it." 

On a serious note, he acknowledged the problems and stressed the need to curb traffic-related issues through the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS), peak-hour adjustments, creating one-ways and so on. 

Dayananda said ensuring pedestrians' safety was a priority because they were more vulnerable. 

On law and order problems, the top cop said CCTV cameras could be game-changers. "Across the city, 4,100 cameras have been installed under the Safe City project and 3,000 more will be installed soon," he explained. 

Spike speed breakers to curb wrong-side driving

Bengaluru traffic police are considering installing spike speed breakers to tackle wrong-side driving. 

As the name suggests, a spike speed breaker acts both as a spike (a thin, pointed object) and a speed breaker. It will be a speed breaker for vehicles driving in the right direction. For the wrong-side drivers, it will act as a spike, puncturing their vehicles. 

Mumbai and Ahmedabad adopted the technique recently. 

"We will instal these spike speed breakers at 10 places on a trial basis. Based on the results, we will instal them at other places," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M N Anucheth told DH. 

Police have suggested three major solutions to IT companies to reduce traffic congestion in tech hubs: a) Run shuttle buses to the nearest metro stations; b) Stagger office log-out timings by holding internal consultations; and c) Introduce carpooling to reduce individual vehicles on roads. 

IT parks should also allow cabs inside their campuses to ensure free flow of traffic on the roads, Anucheth added.