Hyderabad: With frequent incidents of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) break-ins being reported in the tri-police stations of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda, the police have now mandated their patrol staff to check the centers overnight.

Night officers from police stations and local police patrol teams, blue colts and patrol cars, visit ATM centers late at night and check machines now.

“Local police patrol or blue foal staff will visit ATMs overnight and check for any mischief. Likewise, they also check near the ATM center for any equipment or tool usually hidden by burglars to use it to break the machine. The night officer will compulsorily visit burglary-prone ATMs, usually those located on isolated stretches,” said Bollaram Inspector P Sreedhar.

The initiative is being picked up by police following incidents of burglaries at ATM centers by property offenders mostly on the outskirts of town where there is little public movement late at night. “Usually the crimes take place after 2 a.m., so patrol staff make at least two visits to ATM centers while patrolling the area each night. Similarly, our undercover crime squad personnel are also making surprise visits to ATM centers disguised as public,” Jawaharnagar Inspector K Chandrasekhar said.

“On each visit, police personnel click on an image and put it in the police station’s Whatsapp group and simultaneously save it in their internal beat patrol/monitoring app,” said Rajendranagar Inspector K Kanakaiah.

The police had held several meetings with the management of different banks to ask them to organize a security guard at the ATM center. Nevertheless, many did not heed their advice, citing the huge expense of deploying a security guard instead, banks installed surveillance cameras.

“Almost all private banks maintain a security system in which an alarm goes off whenever an attempt is made to break the machine. Simultaneously, the security control room at the head office also receives an alert. However, such public sector bank ATMs lack measures,” complained a police official.

ATMs also attract interstate gangs from as far away as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. “Arresting offenders is often a daunting task and resources must be spent to identify, track and arrest them,” another police official said.

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