A securityman guards a tower in Patna. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, April 29: The plans of policemen make for the security of city residents are always impressive. But their implementation often misses the target.

The recent spurt in the incidents of theft in the residential areas of the city has put a poser on the security plans of the men in uniform. The plan of the cops to run background checks on security personnel of apartment buildings and keeping tabs on the entry registers of the buildings seems to have been put on the backburner.

On April 28, criminals entered the flat of Shastrinagar resident Sunil Kumar and decamped with cash and jewellery amounting to Rs 10 lakh. Sunil is a tenant of flat number 104 on the first floor of Kuldeep Beemaditya Apartment.

An officer at the Shastrinagar police station said the guard of the apartment was on duty when the theft took place.

Last week, thieves had got into a flat on the first floor of Himgiri Apartment in the Anandpuri area under SK Puri police station and decamped with a laptop. A source said the incident took place in the early hours of the morning, when the guard was fast asleep.

In December last year, the police held meetings with flat dwellers of the many localities in a bid to control the incidents of theft. The cops instructed the residents about the do’s and dont’s. They also assured the residents that local police stations would run background checks on the security guards of all the apartments under their jurisdiction.

Quick Mobile Service officers were supposed to religiously check the entry registers of the apartments from time to time in order to keep a tab on whether the guard maintained it properly.

The move started with a bang but seems to have ended with a whimper now.

A police officer at the Buddha Colony police station, from where the move started, said the policemen still visited the apartments but not regularly.

“There are visits but it is not very regular. As far as the background checks of the guards are concerned, it will be started very soon. We are serious about it,” the officer said.

An officer at the Shastrinagar police station said the process had not begun yet.

As most apartments in the city have guards who are not properly trained, residents feel that checks by cops would be very helpful.

Shastrinagar resident Ashutosh Kumar said: “Cops used to come on motorbikes and check the registers for some time. But that has stopped now. The background checks on the guards have also not been done. We don’t know what happened to the plan.”