NEW DELHI: On official records, crime doubled in the capital in 2014 as compared to the previous year. But that’s good news. As police commissioner B S Bassi pointed out, the higher number of FIRs last year reflected a new-found willingness of the cops to register cases.
Accepting that the police were for years “managing” the registration of cases to make crime figures look better, Bassi in his annual press conference on Friday said this reluctance to register offences had almost disappeared among Delhi Police officers.
He said the number of cases registered in 2014’s, at 1,47,230, represented a more accurate picture of crime in the city. In 2013, the number of cases reported (73,902) was around half of last year.
To illustrate how the police’s reluctance to file FIRs had skewed the crime figures in the capital. Bassi cited the data of 1998 when 64,882 crimes were reported in Delhi and compared it with 2012 when just 54,287 cases were registered despite the population of the city having increased substantially during the period.
“The victims of cognizable crimes now rarely have to run from pillar to post to get their FIRs registered. This has also led to a spurt in solving of cases (43,431 against 36,134 in 2013) and arrest of criminals (55,187 against 46,714 last year),” he said, asserting that this “truthful registration” was not a favour to the victims but the police’s duty.
Addressing the press conference along with special commissioner Deepak Mishra and two other special commissioners, Bassi said that while smart policing and zero tolerance for corruption were his pledges for the year 2015, law and order and women’s safety remained his priority.
Bassi also spoke about two new initiatives named Yuva Prahari – extension of community policing – and traffic commandoes who would roam around the city and carry out prosecutions.
On the department’s to-do list lie measures to curb attacks on policemen and citizens from northeast, as a spurt in these crimes had invited the maximum criticism of the force.
Bassi said he was looking forward to training his force in refined patrolling and confrontational techniques to have them better prepared to face criminals. Several measures will be taken to make Delhi safer for people from northeast, including recruitment of cops from these states.
Other challenges for Bassi include tackling heinous and street crimes which saw a spurt in 2014 and having the old carry-over cases solved.
Vehicle thefts remain an area of concern, as it comprised a fifth of all IPC crimes reported. Sixty vehicles, on an average, are stolen daily, police data shows.
Bassi confirmed he was launching an app – as first reported by TOI – which would facilitate both registration of vehicle thefts as well as speedy insurance compensation through time-bound closure of cases.
The commissioner highlighted the arrests of 13 terrorists and 87 wanted criminals by the special cell and crime branch as a significant achievement of the force last year.
The traffic police, he said, worked efficiently and significantly brought down fatal accidents to the lowest in the past 10 years.
Bassi also elaborated on the measures he has taken on women’s safety including the chargesheet in such cases being filed in 20 days and any delay being supervised by a joint CP level officer. He also said 61% of these cases were being solved within a week and another 20% within a fortnight.
“During 2014, as many as 15,583 women have been imparted basic self-defence orientation by Delhi Police. Women shall be better empowered if the training is introduced as a compulsory subject for girl students from 2nd or 3rd standards by slightly tweaking their school routine to take 3 to 5 minutes from each of the periods for imparting self-defence training,” Bassi added.
TOI | Jan 3, 2015
Contact Lawyers In India : https://lawintellectindia.com/contact-us/