This Tagore block has got its act together

“In 1995, our colony averaged three to four burglaries a month,” says J. Krishnatrey, office bearer of the Resident Welfare Association. “But once we started working with the police on the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, the crime rate in our colony has dropped. In fact, our colony is so safe, that the rents have gone up.”

The colony started by forming a Resident Welfare Association. Then they went to the police to ask them how “they could help themselves”. Krishnatrey adds: “When we went to the police, we were told about the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme. In coordination with them, we slowly garnered funds and started the fortification of our colony.”

The first thing the residents did was increase the height of the wall that separates the colony from a wooded area. Then they put barbed wire on top of it. Once they were through with the wall, the residents had blocked one access point. “People would scale the low wall and steal cars, stereos or rob houses. But after we raised the wall there were no such incidents.”

In fact, ever since the residents took over the security of the colony, they have apprehended 19 “bad characters” in the area. The beat box constructed by the residents is used to lock-up the people the chowkidars apprehend till the police arrive. The six chowkidars work in coordination with the beat constables of the area.

Every chowkidar, hawker and vendor who frequents the colony has been given an identity card. Every resident’s vehicle also has a colony sticker. After 10 p.m., no outsider is allowed to enter the colony and visitors have to park their cars outside. The nine entry and exit points of the colony are opened in turns. Each of the nine steel gates, which were constructed at a cost of Rs 6 lakh, are opened for a specific number of hours and all of them are manned.

“Our coordination with the residents is very good,” says Uday Sahay, DCP (West). “With the initiative of the residents we have been able to contain crime in the area. Burglaries and car thefts were the main problems in this area and we have been able to keep a check on it.”

Community policing has also helped this colony know itself. “We frequently hold meetings and this gives the residents a chance to get to know their neighbours,” says Krishnatrey. “And this is why our scheme has worked so well.”

When the colony decided to take up community policing, they were faced with the same problems every other colony faces. People were reluctant to pay the security charges and residents with private security guards said they didn’t need collective security. But once the system started operating, everybody pitched in.

Today, the murders and robberies the residents of A-E block read about in the newspapers don’t perturb them too much. They have taken responsibility of their own security.