1,000 cases of snatching in a month, Delhi’s East district on top

Data further shows that 3,894 motor vehicle thefts were reported this year as compared to 3,663 last year; 247 incidents of robbery this year as compared to 224 last year; 105 attempt to murder cases reported this year as compared to 56 last year.

After the last crime review meeting, Asthana had decided to meet every DCP for 15-20 minutes to discuss the law-and-order situation in their district, but the plan was postponed. “Last Tuesday, Asthana reviewed district-wise crime data and found that the East district saw the most snatching cases — 112 — this year. He also found that 103 snatching cases were reported in North, 94 in Shahdara, 88 in Outer district, and 87 in Central district,” a senior police officer said.

Asthana also asked the DCPs about unsolved cases but was not happy with their response as some were unaware of the facts of these cases and the crime pattern of their district, said the officer. “He also reviewed motor-vehicle theft data and found 414 incidents took place in the last one month in West district, 399 in Northeast district, 361 in Rohini district, 328 in Northwest district, and 306 in Southeast district,” the officer said.

“After reviewing data on robberies, he found that maximum incidents (29) took place in Outer-North district, followed by Outer district with 27, Northeast with 22, Dwarka and South districts with 20, and Rohini with 19,” an officer said.

He looked at crime figures and the PCR calls and asked the force to implement free registration of FIRs, as he was unhappy with one of the DCPs not doing the same in his district. He also directed senior officials of the crime branch to improve their percentage of solved cases, the officer said.

In response to the report ‘1,000 cases of snatching in a month, East District on top’, Chinmoy Biswal, PRO, Delhi Police writes: “The headline gives a misleading portrayal of the crime and law & order situation of the city without appreciation of the fact that it indicates freer registration of FIRs and effective conversion of PCR calls into FIRs. The CP, Delhi has emphasised on truthful registration in every law & order meeting and as a result, the rate of conversion of PCR calls has also gone up. A misleading heading as mentioned above only serves to create panic among general public, besides hiding the police efforts to bring crimes on record and criminals to book.
It is also pertinent to mention that no view or clarification was sought by your correspondent from us before giving it a slant as aforementioned in the story. Moreover, the story quotes some officer (not named) stating some purported proceedings of worthy CP’s crime review meeting while its veracity has not been ascertained from the official spokesperson in Delhi Police.”

The Indian Express responds:

The report quotes Delhi Police data to show that cases of snatching, motor vehicle theft, robbery and attempt to murder have gone up in the one-month period between October 8 and November 11 this year as compared to the same period last year. The headline reflects this fact.

Details of the crime review meeting quoted in the report are based on conversations with officers who were part of that meeting.