In the wake of the murder of an 86-year-old woman at Malabar Hill on Friday, deputy commissioner of police (zone-II) Dr K Venkastesham said police have constantly warned residents on the dangers of employing servants without registering them at the nearest police station and ascertaining their antecedents, but the warnings have fallen on deaf ears. ``Only a negligible number of residents have so far come forward to register the names of their servants. What residents don't realise is that a little effort could save so many lives,'' he said.

Already, seven persons have been killed, and at least one seriously injured, in attacks by servants in these areas of south Mumbai in the last oneyear.According to estimates, there are three to five thousand domestic servants employed by residents of the nearly 1,500 buildings in these areas. In most cases, the servants are migrants from northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

A police officer said that if names of servants are registered with the local police station, it could act as a deterrent and prevent them from committing crimes. Moreover, their background could be screened and their permanent address confirmed, he added.

Venkatesham pointed out that secretaries of co-operative housing societies could seek the help of local police, and officers could be deployed to various housing complexes so that they can explain to residents the dos and donts of ensuring safety and preventing crime.

Only recently, police had undertaken a crime prevention campaign by issuing more than 10,000 stickers to Malabar Hill, Gamdevi and Tardeo police stations to be distributed to residents of housing societies. The stickers with all the dosand donts were to be pasted on the doors of residences.However, while police felt the residents were not co-operative, some locals said the authorities were not doing enough to ensure the safety of citizens. ``Maximum effort is taken only to safeguard VIPs,'' a local resident said.

Former MLA B A Desai said police should overhaul their intelligence gathering system and lay more emphasis on preventing smaller crimes. ``It is the duty of police to be vigilant and prevent crime,'' he added.