HYDERABAD: Police suggest the digital video recording equipment be placed in a place which it is not easily visible to the public eye. But at many retail stores, the DVR is placed exactly near the cash counter, which makes it the easy target. Technicians involved in the installation of CCTV cameras say that residents of apartments and individual houses take precautions for DVR safety but the management of commercial establishments neglect this aspect as their spaces are already packed.
An official associated with the Nenu Saitham CCTV cameras project says they are regularly monitoring the functioning of the cameras installed by the police and getting any malfunctioning camera repaired immediately.
But keeping track of the functioning of the cameras and the DVR equipment installed at shops and commercial spaces is not possible. “When offenders go near the cash counter, they also notice the equipment and damage it. The DVR’s can be safe if they are not visible,” he says.
A Saikiran Reddy of Kiran Smart City, who is in the business of installing CCTV cameras, says that DVR is installed in a safe location in a protected box usually in residential apartments. But in individual houses, on the direction of the inmates, the device is kept just beside the television or any shelf in the hall, which is easily visible.
Some recent incidents
July 15: Burglars strike at a wine shop in Abdullapurmet on the city outskirts and made away with the DVR equipment along with Rs 8,600 cash.
June 26: Hyderabad police arrested a 12-member gang of two families, who searched for CCTV cameras on the premises, snapped the cables and damaged the DVR equipment to wipe out any clues while committing any offence. Rs 2 crore worth of stolen property was recovered from them.
January: Tollywood star GVS Krishna Reddy alias Samrat Reddy, who was arrested by Madhapur police for allegedly committing theft at his own house in Madhapur, damaged the CCTV cameras and took away the DVR equipment with him.
December 2016: The notorious gang that targeted Muthoot Finance at RC Puram and robbed over 44 kg of gold from the branch took away the hard disk of CCTV cameras with them.
December 2016: Six robbers, armed with knives, looted Rs 23 lakh from Bharat Petrol Pump at Athuvelli village at Medchal. Before leaving, they damaged one of the two DVRs. Police said the gang was not aware of the second DVR