Bengaluru: If you are a resident of south Bengaluru and are heading out locking your house for more than a day, you can be rest assured that your dwelling is safe and secure. All you have to do is to WhatsApp a photo of your house along with the location, address and contact numbers to the mobile number of the south division police control room. In case you don’t have WhatsApp on your mobile, call the landline of the control room and share the details.
Patrolling police from the division, particularly at night, will drop by the address to ensure everything is alright. This initiative is being taken up on a pilot basis under ‘Locked House Checking System‘ in the division.
DCP (south) Lokesh Jagalasar told TOI that Thursday was day 1 of the programme but cops are yet to receive any calls. According to Jagalasar, when a person sends details on WhatsApp or calls the control room, they will be shared with the jurisdictional police station.
The station house officer (SHO) must ensure the locked house is visited at least once during the night beat. “Our main aim is to increase night patrol in residential areas where locked houses are situated. Police patrolling will surely send warning signals to mischief mongers. Every day, night- patrol staffers will be briefed on the locked houses in their jurisdictions. Senior officers like assistant commissioners of police and police inspectors on night rounds must get feedback from the staffers on the visits made to locked houses. During my night rounds, I will do the same thing,” he said.
South division, comprising prominent residential pockets like Basavanagudi, Jayanagar, JP Nagar, Banashankari, Padmanabhanagar and KS Layout, has 16 law- and-order police stations, with a strength of 1,300 personnel. On any given day, there will be at least 1,100 cops on duty, Jagalasar said.
The division has 34 Hoysala patrol vehicles.
Whom to contact (south division)
WhatsApp: 9480801500
Control room landline: 080-22943111