Teams from the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate are visiting standalone houses as well as housing complexes in New Town, Salt Lake and pockets along VIP Road and asking residents to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity in their neighbourhoods.
The cops are also asking the residents to install CCTV cameras on their premises and collecting details of tenants and members of the residents’ welfare associations of housing societies.
In June 2021, two dreaded criminals from Punjab who had been staying on rent in New Town’s Sukhobrishti Housing Complex were gunned down in an encounter with the police there.
The police teams from the Bidhannagar commissionerate also want to keep an eye out for illegal call centres, which in a change of tactic are being set up in housing complexes and standalone houses, instead of designated office buildings.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said all police stations under the commissionerate have been asked to carry out the sensitisation exercise.
The areas looked after by the commissionerate include Salt Lake, New Town, Rajarhat, Narayanpur and places along VIP Road such as Lake Town, Kaikhali and Baguiati.
“The meetings with the residents are being organised keeping two objectives in mind — preventing crime and cracking crime at the earliest,” the officer said.
“At times residents do not hand verification forms for tenants and domestic help to the local police station. The residents need to know that they should submit the forms for their own sake because such information help us immensely in cracking a crime. Besides, submission of such forms in the local police station acts as a deterrent, just like boards announcing that a place is under CCTV surveillance.”
On Sunday afternoon, a team from Baguiati police station visited a housing society off VIP Road.
The police discussed with the residents how the safety and security of the complex can be enhanced.
The police told the residents to install CCTV cameras and share details of the domestic help and drivers with them. The society should also provide details of the tenants to the police.
CCTV cameras, the cops told the residents, can be installed outside their apartments and in front of the staircase.
“This is a message for all residents. If neighbours object to the installation of a CCTV camera, you can tell them that you have the right to put up such a camera in the common space. It will ensure the safety and security of your flat and you have the right to do so,” an officer at Baguiati police station said while addressing residents.
The police suggested that four residents on a floor can together install a camera on that floor.
The police said detailsof all tenants should bementioned in a form to be filled in by the tenants themselves. If a tenant runs a business, the nature of thebusiness should be mentioned, too.
“If a resident suspects that some suspicious activity is going on, they should alert us. We will verify,” the officer said.
As for details of domestic help and drivers, the officer said that if details of even one driver are verified, word would spread and that would act as a deterrent to drivers and domestic help with criminal intent.