An open question--Does CCTV footage help identify/nab culprits????

anukarsha · Oct 23, 2012

In today’s newspaper I read about an incident of theft in a Malad east Businessman’s household. The culprits even tried to strangulate the lady of the house. The police are taking the help of the footage of the CCTV cameras installed on the society premises.

Even I used to think very safe when we installed CCTV cameras all over our society premises; on the entrance gates, in the premises, both the lobbies, all four elevators, and passages leading toward the elevators. I believe everyone in the society felt safe and secure after the installation of CCTV cameras. But today, I am tempted to ask a direct question to all the readers—do these cameras really help us and/or police identify and nab the culprits???

You may like to call me a crazy woman; that I am! And, I am proud to be one. Any way! You must be thinking why the hell this stupid question’s being asked at the first place. So, let me tell you. Almost two months from now, that is on August 25th, 2012 (to be precise), we had registered a case of house breaking and theft at our house. It was a Saturday, and I, my husband and two daughters were out for a drive. We went at around 2.10 pm and were back at around 08.25pm. When we returned, as usual, I went ahead to open the door of our flat. I was surprised to see the main door open. Like most of the residents of Mumbai, we too have two doors—one the safety door and the other the main door. The safety door has a steel grill fitted, so one can see through it. I asked my husband if he (by mistake) left the door open. He denied, obviously. As we entered the living room, I noticed the light of my bedroom was on. I again asked my husband; did you leave the light of our bedroom switched on? And he also seemed a bit puzzled. And in a little irritating voice he said, “How will I leave it on? We went in the afternoon, and we need no artificial light during the day time.

As I started moving toward our bedroom, I noticed my business cards strewn on the floor, the cupboards (mine and my husband’s) open, the drawers out, the empty box of my Titan watch on my bed, and a bag was lying on the bed. This bag was empty and I had kept my jewelry in it inside a steel box. I screamed, OMG, I think someone’s been here!

We all rushed to our daughters’ room. There also all the cupboards were open, clothes strewn here and there, drawers open.

My husband called police. I must admit that Malad west police really arrived within ten minutes time. There were many officers from different departments who came, inquired about the incident. Finger prints experts, officers from crime branch, and all concerned were there at our place. We called our society committee members also.

As requested by the police, we furnished all the details of the CCTV camera footage right from the time we left the society premises till the time we arrived. We even gave a list of suspects(along with the time in hh:mm:ss, dress worn by the person, gender, entering/exiting, and other details that we felt may be of any help to the police. There is a lady seen clearly in the footage of the elevator who is the prime suspect in this case. It is approximately (August 25th to October 23rd), we have not yet got any clues about the lady who kept one elevator blocked for almost 45 minutes while the other person was actually inside our flat doing the job. We do not know how many people were there, what was the motive, who is the primary culprit, was any or all of our maid, our driver, security guards at our premises involved? No clues, absolutely! It’s so disheartening that even after providing all the footage, we are so helpless, clueless. The person who has done it, or has assisted in this crime may be moving freely around us—still, without any tension; and we do not even know about him or her. I really do not know if these CCTV cameras are helpful someway.

One cannot stay at home all his or her life. You have your professional responsibilities, your personal agendas. But whenever we go out, there is something on the back of the mind—“I hope everything will be OK when we get back home!!!” We were living without any such feeling up until recently, but after this incident, not only our family, but everyone in the society is worried about the safety and security of their house and valuables.
What’s your say on this???

Regards

satchitananda · Oct 23, 2012

Anu, there are a couple questions here:

Are the policemen in cahoots with the culprits - meaning do they get a cut out of the proceeds? I know it might sound ridiculous, but ......

Do they really make a serious attempt to follow up after the initial work up?

Yes, it can feel terribly insecure living in such situations. Nobody is safe today and no place is safe either.

sandhyapal · Oct 23, 2012

feel so bad. many of the cases end up without anyone being caught and this makes the culprit dare to do some more thefts. some thing has to be done. you are right we cant stay at home all the time.

anukarsha · Oct 23, 2012

Thanks dear Satchi for your reply. I am not sure if they really made any serious attempt in our case. Every time my hubby was called to the police station, they just said some thing or the other. And the matter went into lingering.

I am not sure about the police-culprit nexus. Maybe, may not be.

Thanks anyway!

anukarsha · Oct 23, 2012

Thank you dear Sandhya for your reply.

Yes, we cannot surely stay at home all the time. In our case also, it was more of a matter of safety and security. Though I cannot deny the material loss we have had; but the question is if after having 24 hours security personnel, and CCTV cameras all over the society, something like this can happen, then what is the fun of having so advanced technology in the premises.

The suspected lady looked right into the face of camera three times.

Thanks dear!

Anandchitra · Oct 24, 2012

I am sorry to hear you have had such an unpleasant and harrowing experience. It is a sad fact of life that such experiences leave behind an equally unpleasant twinge which then colors everything in its hue.
I personally am reluctant to blame the police in this instance even after all the evidences are submitted. You might be surprised to hear that things are not that different in the U.S even worse actually. Even when the police are furnished with every conceivable evidence they never take action. And if its a white person you are complaining about forget it!!! that is reality for you. So you can imagine how much more of a distastful feeling you are left to saddle with when it comes to justice. And they say justice is blind! so much for race and color!
All this being said we just have to learn to live our lives our way. We can keep jewels and other important stuff in bank lockers and we can close the doors and set an alarm when we leave. And above all , this is something I do! PRAY
Your narration is excellent. Next time i hope to read something on more pleasant tones

Viswamitra · Oct 24, 2012

Dear Sis,

Deeply pained to hear that there was house-breaking at your precious home. Honestly, the cops must be very grateful to the complainant for providing close-circuit footage for them to find out the culprit. I can't believe that even after 2 months, they did not track-down the culprits despite having a visual evidence. I am really sorry to know about losing precious jeweleries and other items at home. Apparently, if someone planned and executed theft in your house within a short window of your trip outside, it must be someone who is watching your movements and very familiar with the surroundings of your apartments. With a little more effort and inquiry, they could easily track-down the culprits.

It is clear lack of determination to do their job. I feel your husband should escalate the issue to the higher level of cops to find a solution. As you rightly said, it is more important that they find the culprits soon as it could expose others also to similar situation.

My best wishes are always with you and hopefully, I will hear from you that they found the culprits. More time spent in finding them, the possibilities of recovering the lost items is remote. I wish the cops do something quick.

Viswa

steve · Oct 24, 2012

OP:

Sorry about what you are having to go through. I hope they have break through.

CCTV is helpful. At least because of it, you know what's going on. I think the perpetrators know about the CCTV. Because of that it's possible that they have used someone who is not well known in the area. It could even be that she is from a village visiting the city for a day or two. In such cases, Police in many cases reach a dead end not able to find leads to the person in the photograph.

I hope they find a breakthrough in your case. Good luck.

Aspire · Oct 24, 2012

Anu: Sorry to hear that there was break-in recently in your house. Similar incident had happened in my Aunt's house in Sion and the police did find the valuables back after 6 months based on their complaint, though not sure what happened to the thieves. They were called to the police station and then asked to identify the valuables and then they were handed over.

Do you have watchman/security guard(s) in your society? What were they doing?

rsk11584 · Oct 24, 2012

The police has to take special interest and solve the case which they dont do most of the times, i am regular watcher of crime patrol on sony tv, wherein long buried cases are dug up due to some or other clue, and the prisoner is caught. They should have handled the case properly but they might think that after all only 20000 rs have been stolen, why should we take action like that,

Also cctv footage needs to be monitored closely and everyone needs to be interrogated seperately and also together so that police could study their eye movement all security guards, maids etc everyone needs to be shown the lady photo and her identity is to be established, . This surely looks the work of some insider (99%) who knew you were going for drive, or just a coincidence (1%)

I think this is purely lack of interest on the part of police.