Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXV No. 23, March 16-31, 2016
Making Chennai safer
by R.K. Raghavan (A former CBI Director)
Just recently I read news of Chennai being ranked very high as a safe city. My heart leapt with joy. Little did I anticipate that within days I would be fed with the news of the city reporting the brutal murder of two hapless women, one in the heart of the city, and the other on the outskirts. This could happen in the safest of cities. When it happens in my city I am shocked and demoralised.
We should not surrender to despondence. All of us as citizens can do a lot more to make our kith and kin feel more secure. My basic advice: Don’t depend only on the police or the private security guards posted to protect your block of apartments. In criminology, a famous professor friend, Ron Clarke, a venerable, soft-spoken, erudite scholar and Englishman teaching at Rutgers University in the U.S., had developed a whole discipline called Target Hardening. Yes, make it difficult for the potential criminal who is targeting you.
First, ensure your home/apartment has built-in safety features. If you are constructing a new home or getting into an apartment, new or old, spend a few minutes surveying the space to identify weak spots. Don’t mind spending an extra rupee to strengthen the window grill or put an extra grill door to operate as a second shield to your front door that is the most vulnerable point of entry. Keep your front door always locked even during day. Unlock it only when needed, and let in a visitor only after you are satisfied with his bona fides, not merely with the identity. Danger to a woman occupant of a house comes not only from a stranger, but from a known friend or relative as well. Remember, a substantial number of sexual assaults on women come from known people.
Avoid late nights out of home. I know, this is more easily said than done. But then it is a contest between freedom of movement and physical safety. If you don’t care for the latter and prefer the former, your risk ratio goes up. Many resented the very wise statement – for a change, from a politician. “Freedom at midnight does not mean freedom to roam about at midnight.” I endorse it wholeheartedly, even at the risk of being accused of being a misogynist! I would still like my mother, wife or daughter to return home reasonably early from a dinner, play or movie so that she is safe. I am appalled at our teenagers being out driving their vehicles or getting into public transport after midnight. There is no need to indulge in such (mis)adventure unless there is an emergency.
Do not hire a servant unless you know something about his or her antecedents. You may not get a wealth of accurate information. But you will certainly get an idea of his or her past. You should think twice before having a live-in servant. This is absolutely vital to protect yourself physically, and also to safeguard your movable property. Finally, don’t keep too much of jewellery or cash. Both make you an attractive target, by means of leaked information from a servant who has free access to every nook and corner of your household. Do not hesitate to hire bank vaults for your jewellery or to use debit/credit cards for all your transactions. Carry only the minimum cash while you are on the move. And, access your ATM during reasonable hours, not very early in the morning or late into the night.
You will say that all this is only commonsense. But it is the failure of commonsense that has brought calamity to many cities and civilisations. We are no different!
