Godrej Locks aiming to be ahead of thieves

Traditional wisdom has it that the best place to hide things from a thief is right under his nose.

Security solutions company Godrej Locks has gone a step ahead, getting the thieves themselves to dispense advice on how to secure yourselves from risk and theft.

In a series of three videos, three robbers, now reformed, let viewers into some tricks of their trade – such as ways to break a lock – and reiterate that thieves will stop at nothing, even murder.

Shyam Motwani, Executive Vice-President, Godrej Locks, says the persons featured in the videos “have done all kinds of gruesome things to achieve nefarious objectives”. The company tapped many sources, including the police to track these people. They have all done time in jail.

“Now that they are reformed, they were more than willing to talk,” Motwani says.

Security is at high risk in metro cities today, but people are not aware of its magnitude.

“You’d think they are petty thieves but they are hardened criminals. There’s a lurking danger all the time,” Motwani asserts.

One of the former thieves recommends that when people sense a burglary or spot a thief lurking, they should not panic, but stay calm, leave the house, bolt it from outside, gather the neighbours, call the police and stay there till the police arrive and the thief is caught.

Another recommends getting an alarm that will go off when a burglary is attempted.

This is fairly common-sense advice, isn’t it? Yes, but “when the robbers themselves say it, it’s more real, there’s more stickiness” to the message, says Motwani.

The identity of the people in the videos has been protected. Their names and voices have been changed and their faces hidden.

However, “their accounts are real, they were not given a script,” says Motwani.

The videos are primarily to spread awareness but end with the former thieves certifying Godrej Locks as ones that cannot be tampered with.

Mention the scores of movies where robbers overcome sophisticated technology to carry out heists and Motwani says that in real life, electronics and biometrics make it difficult.

Unless someone has placed a spy cam atop your door and figures out your passcode, they cannot gain entry. It’s important to change the code regularly, he adds.

Also, with mechanical locks that have several bolts, it’s not worth a thief’s time to get through every single one because he may well be discovered before he finishes the job, he says.

He adds, though, that it’s a fact that thieves would want to get ahead of the technology, “so it’s our challenge to develop even more sophisticated technology and be ahead of them”.

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