Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Terrifying Assault at ATM Counter


The assault on the helpless woman
The nation, and especially anyone who has ever used an ATM machine would’ve recoiled in horror at the brutal attack on a woman bank officer by an unidentified (as yet) assailant in Bengaluru yesterday, caught in excruciating detail by the surveillance camera. The video shows the lady entering the chamber and is soon followed by the assailant who downed the metallic rolling shutters of the cabin, probably to convey the feeling that the machine is down for re-filling cash. He then turns to the terrified woman with a pistol and a machete demanding something from her, possibly her ATM PIN. She might have refused (credit be to her!) and then we see him furiously attacking her with the machete, inflicting serious wounds on her neck and upper torso. After a brief scuffle, she is seen collapsing on the floor, mercifully unconscious. The attacker soon left the cabin and it was only some time later that people noticed blood trickling under the rolling shutters and the police was informed.

This gruesome incident must wake up the concerned authorities and the society as a whole to focus on the security of ATM machines. Till now, the limited security cover wherever it is provided, is only for the machine and the users are left to fend for themselves. Very few machines are guarded, particularly if they are attached to a functioning branch of the bank. There are many locations where an unguarded ATM is installed in a remote location. Since every machine is now placed under video surveillance, the banks are content to leave them undefended, in the sure hope that they can zero in on the miscreant based on video footage. But such incidents like what happened yesterday in Bengaluru can’t be prevented by such measures.

Everyone would agree that assigning guards at every ATM is not an economically viable proposition. Should the banks be coerced to ensure such protection as a result of misguided public ire blown out of proportions against the gravity of the incident, it would end up as an unnecessary cost to be borne by the customers. Are there any alternate, but easier options left?

New lock mechanism
If we re-examine the video, we would realize that the incident appears so frightening after the assailant had downed the rolling shutters confining the victim and the attacker to a small cubicle out of public view. This action immediately transformed the benign cubicle into a claustrophobic cavern where one subconsciously surrenders to a primal fear arising from slumber deep inside our minds. The tiny, closed room in which the attack takes place awakens a sense of futility at resistance whether it is a man or a woman. For the onlookers, it surely evokes concerns about the safety of our loved ones who may find themselves in similar circumstances. Probably, the incident might not have provoked such alarm if it had happened in a public place.

A simple, but efficient deterrent seems to be providing a lock on the rolling shutter door in the fully open position. Normally, these devices could be locked only in the fully closed position, and only some minor welding work should be enough to lock it in the open position too. The maintenance guys only need to possess the key to temporarily down the shutters at the time of re-filling. If such a locking arrangement could be provided, the enclosure would be visible at all times, ensuring safety through transparency, so to say!

This modest mechanism shall serve to deter a quite few of the miscreants.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Advice to Young Electrical Engineers

Electrical engineers normally find pleasure in residing in deep wells of their own discipline, with no awareness of what is going on around them in other fields. There will definitely be a few exceptions, but the rule fits most of them in a well-settled organisation. Young engineers should strive not to fall victim to this false sense of disregard as far as other disciplines are concerned. This attitude handicaps them which they don't realize at the time, just as a riding horse doesn't feel constrained by its blinders. This specializing attitude would harm them in the long run and it is no wonder that in almost all organisations, the top posts are garnered by Mechanical guys. Only when the Electrical guys venture out of the confines of the well in which they've placed themselves, do they experience the sunshine they were missing all along!