1 week Ago By Varsha Somaraj
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The capital city has seen a rise in house break-ins over the past two years, with 2024 recording 118 incidents compared to 107 in 2023. According to data,in 2024, 78 of the total incidents occurred during the night, while 40 happened in the day. Similarly, in 2023, night time break-ins dominated with 77 cases, compared to 30 during the day.
“Criminals are targeting homes, especially at night when occupants are away for extended periods. A pattern of them spotting houses and wandering around to know the surroundings have been observed in the cases,” said DCP Vijay Bharath Reddy. The data indicates that certain police station limits are seeing more activity than others.
Valiyathura and Vizhinjam have are consistently high in break-in reports. Valiyathura recorded 15 cases in 2023 and 5 in 2024, while Vizhinjam saw a steep rise from 10 break-ins in 2023 to 17 in 2024. “These areas are being given special attention and we are working with residential associations to establish stronger neighbourhood watch programmes,” added DCP.
According to the police, the modus operandi usually involves entry through less-secured doors and windows, often during the late night or early morning hours when streets are quieter. A majority of the targeted homes have been found to be unoccupied for long periods, which has made the residents install better security systems, such as alarms and CCTV cameras. The police are also encouraging people to report any suspicious activities in their neighbourhoods.
“Community involvement is important. If we can create a network of alert citizens, we can drastically reduce the number of such crimes. Usually we get leads through CCTV and neighbourhood,” said the DCP.
In certain cases, like in Attingal theft case in a doctor’s house, police had to trace the culprits to a remote thug village in Rajasthan. They broke into the house in Valiyakkunnu, Attingal during the daytime while the occupants were away, which resulted in the theft of 50 sovereigns of gold and 4.5 lakhs.
The main door of the house, bedroom door and the locker where the valuables were stored was broken. CCTV footage from the vicinity aided in identifying the perpetrators who posed as vendors selling toys and clothing on festival grounds and along roadsides. While arrests have been made in some cases, many investigations are still ongoing.
A notable spike in robbery, theft and murder through break-ins have been found too..
