Street crimes: Days not safer than nights

New Delhi, January 12

A Delhi Police report states 56 percent of the street crimes  — includes looting, snatchings, vehicle thefts and other incidents — have occured in broad daylight, whereas the figure reduces to 44 percent for nights (8pm-12am).

The data says that in 2016, 9,197 street crime incidents were reported compared to 8,070 in 2017 and 6,642 in 2018. While, in 2018, 57 percent were solved compared to 56 and 35 percent in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

A senior police official said criminals mostly target the women especially those who are standing and waiting for some means of transport.

As per the study, 44 street crimes incidents — 30 of snatching and 14-15 of looting — are daily reported, excluding theft and other crimes which would have made the data more horrifying.

Nearly 59 percent cases of looting happened in night as compared to 41 percent in day. The five top areas in looting here are Mahender Park with 54 incidents reported, New Usmanpur: 57, Samaypur Badli: 50, Prashant Vihar: 40; and Bhajanpura: 35.

Snatching incidents are more in day time than night . Top five areas of snatching have been Prashant Vihar: 107, Rajouri Garden: 103, Vikas Puri: 102, Seemapuri: 99; and Anand Vihar: 95.

To curb this, hotspots have been identified and focused policing has been intensified along with focus on elicit community policing, mapping time-wise and area-wise incidents, and intense picket checking at crime-prone areas. He has formed anti-snatching squads at each district, said Commissioner Amulya Patnaik. — TNS