In response to increasingly frequent cases of ATM burglaries across Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda, the police have asked their patrolling personnel to monitor the ATM kiosks at night.
The night officers of the police stations and the blue colt and patrol cars of the local police patrol the ATM centres during late nights and regularly check the machines.
“In the night, local police patrols or blue colts personnel will check ATMs for mischief. The team also checks the vicinity of the ATM centre for any equipment or tools usually hidden there by burglars to use for breaking the machine. Often these ATMs are located in isolated stretches, which makes them vulnerable to burglary,” said Bollaram Inspector, P Sreedhar.
After a spate of burglaries at the ATM centres, which mainly took place on the outskirts of the city at night when there is little public movement, the police have taken the initiative.
“The crime usually occurs after 2 am, so the patrolling staff visits the ATM centres twice every night while patrolling the area. Additionally, our crime teams’ members in plain clothes also make surprise visits to ATM centres disguised as regular citizens,” said Jawaharnagar Inspector K Chandrasekhar.
K Kanakaiah, Rajendranagar inspector, said police personnel take pictures on every patrol and put them in the station’s Whatsapp group and record them in their patrol/beat monitoring app.
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Multiple meetings with bank managers had been held by the police to convince them to provide a security guard at the ATM centre. Nonetheless, many did not follow their advice citing the high cost of employing a security guard rather than installing surveillance cameras.
“Most private banks have a security system that sounds an alarm if an attempt is made to break into a machine. At the same time, the head office security control room also receives an alert. The public sector bank ATMs, however, lack such measures,” said a police official.
Interstate gangs are attracted to ATMs from as far as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana. It takes a lot of time and resources to identify, track, and arrest the offenders, another police official said.
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