New Delhi, Dec 31 (UNI) Despite having all kinds of latest and most advanced facilities, criminals still find it easy to dodge the police and take liberty to commit crime at will in the national capital.
In view of the upcoming Commonwealth Games in October next year, several new police stations, increased police personnel, latest weapons, vehicles and other security equipment were added in the paraphernalia of the Delhi Police.
However, it seems that the criminals are running ahead of the police as the crime rate has increased this year in comparison to last year.
The most problematic among all the criminals were auto-lifters as more than 27,000 cases of motor theft were recorded during the year, which, according to the police, was 25 per cent higher than 2008 and constitutes about 15 per cent of total crimes committed in Delhi.
A senior police official told UNI, ''Motor Vehicle theft is the biggest crime in the capital that the police have been dealing with. We have found a significant increase in such cases this year.''
The Delhi Police also took several steps to reduce the motor theft cases like sending out letters to vehicle owners requesting them to install security gadgets in their vehicles.
To help them further, the police would also provide them the contact numbers of dealers of such devices in their area.
''Police alone can not prevent vehicle thefts as there are a huge number of vehicles in the city. People have to invest some money in this,'' Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal had said in a press conference held earlier this year.
In addition to the motor vehicle thefts, crimes committed by biker gangs also remained a major concern for the Delhi Police.
Incidents related to such crimes were reported from all parts of the National Capital, mainly South Extension, Saket, Madangiri, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Sangam Vihar, Dwarka, Dabri, Punjabi Bagh, Rajouri Garden, Ashok Vihar, Maurya Enclave, Keshavpuram, Rani Bagh, New Delhi, Seelampur, Bhajanpura, Shakarpur and Mandawali.
These gangs were involved in snatching and robbery as, according to the police, around 14,000 calls received till November 30 were only about snatching by biker gangs.
Out of 14,000, around 800 cases were recorded, which was lower than last year that saw 870 cases.
On an average, the biker gangs struck twice every day and have killed four people so far this year.
The officials informed that a special training programme was introduced at Chawla training camp this year to train all the new recruits in handling the biker gangs.
Likewise, the Delhi Police also started a motorcycle verification campaign. Within five months of its initiation, around three lakh motorcycles were verified. The official noted that due to verification, many criminals were also identified resulting in solving of many cases.
Referring to the heinous and non-heinous crimes committed in the city this year, a senior police official said there was a significant rise in such cases. Total number of cases of heinous crime reported till November 30 was 1278, as compared to last year's 518, while non-heinous crime were 43,414 as against last year's 38,765.
As there were claims made by the police about the reduction in crime figures, many argue that police do not register FIRs to present a rosy picture.
Earlier this year, a sort of debate was started in media about the registration of FIRs and many people expressed their concerns over it.
Police have also devised other ways to show a downward trend in the crime graph as it has started treating the crime of loot under section 382 of IPC which deals with theft cases instead of heinous crimes.
