Cops seek tech aid to ensure safety of elderly

“In many countries, there are systems that connect each of the houses to a police network and once they avail of this, an alarm is sent to the police team in emergencies. We need to explore such options in Chennai for better safety of the elderly,” an officer in the City police said. He added that the government, police department and citizens should come together to put in place such a system. “The elderly also can benefit by this system during medical emergencies,” he said. All city police districts are currently on an enumeration drive of elderly people living alone in the city, in order to provide them security. 

However, even among some senior officers, opinion is divided on this initiative, with one section saying that doorstep enumeration, despite being tedious, does not ensure fool-proof security to the elderly. According to this section of officers, most of the crimes against the elderly are carried out by criminals after they undertake a thorough reconnaissance of the victim’s place of stay and their daily routine. In the recent murder (Sharadha) at T Nagar, the accused had done a full recce before striking. “When such monitoring is being done by criminals, they would know the routine of the beat police too. They would wait for the police to leave the scene and then strike. So, patrolling really does not help,” a senior police officer confided. “Such an initiative was implemented in 2012. But it fell out of the priority later,” another officer said.