Ahmedabad: Ask your vendor to stop delivering newspapers until you are back in town if you don’t want burglars to hear that you are enjoying Diwali holidays out of town.
Ahmedabad Police has taken up the onus of informing society chairmen about the same to make the residents aware of it. This, so that the newspapers don’t pile up at your door while you are away, sending out an ‘open invitation’
to burglars.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-7) Premsukh Delu who is in charge of most of the western parts of the city such as Satellite, Anandnagar, Prahladnagar and Vejalpur, said this Diwali they are on their toes to ensure the burglars on the back foot.
“We have chalked out a plan as part of which our ‘She’ teams would reach out to chairmen and secretaries of societies, creating awareness on why one should unfailingly inform vendors to stop delivering newspapers when residents are not in town,” said DCP Delu.
Delu added that usually burglars venture out during the day to do a recce of the residential areas and identify potential targets so that they can execute the burglaries in the dead of the night.
When they see newspapers piled up outside the locked door, they come to know that the occupants are out of town and then target the house in the night.
Police sources said they are also asking people to keep at least one light switched on in their house while they are out on a vacation during Diwali. “This one light which is on in the closed house can thwart burglary attempts since it gives an impression that someone is inside the house,” said a senior police official.
This is not the only step taken by the cops to avert burglaries during the festive season. “People buy gold during Diwali. Robbers keep a watch outside jewellery showrooms and often target buyers coming out of the showrooms. This time around we have deployed armed policemen in plainclothes outside the showrooms. Hawk bikes have also been provided to them to chase down robbers,” said DCP Delu.
The plainclothesmen are also provided walkie-talkie sets so they can inform the police control room about robberies and the area could be quickly barricaded to nab the robbers.
Cops in plain clothes have also been deployed at malls, both inside and outside, to keep an eye out for vehicle thieves and pickpockets. Besides, ‘She’ team deployed by every police station will go about creating awareness on preventing burglaries during festivities.
PIs to be on road in evening hours
Delu said police inspectors have been asked to be on the roads during the evenings when festive rush reaches a peak. “We also need to keep an eye on eve-teasers. This is why there needs to be visible police presence on the road,” he added.