In an attempt to check “preventable crime”, the Delhi police has asked all the civic agencies in the city to adequately illuminate the isolated stretches which are vulnerable to crime and provide proper road connectivity which, the police believes, act as a deterrent for criminals.
Police commissioner, B.K. Gupta, has also directed the police personnel deployed in the police control room (PCR) vans to identity such areas and submit daily reports so that the concerned authorities can be asked to take corrective action. “The station house officers of all the police stations were asked to submit reports on the crime trends in their respective areas. The findings revealed that a large number of crimes take place in areas which are either poorly lit or don’t have proper road connectivity,” said special commissioner of police (crime) Ranjit Narayan.
The officials said a letter of request has been sent to all the civic agencies like Municipal Corporation of Delhi and NDMC, and power distribution companies like BSES to ensure that the areas are properly maintained. “The focus is to employ good policing techniques practised in the metros across the globe. Measures like proper lighting are being implemented to improve the situation in the long run,” he said.
Mr Nayaran said the policing of a vibrant, multi-cultural city like Delhi has to be restructured in order to set up specific targets and to then achieve them in a time-bound manner. “The priority is to maintain law and order in the city. This can be primarily done by doing away with the traditional ways of policing and out of the box thinking”.
“All the concerned district police heads have been directed to interact more frequently with Resident Welfare Associations and Market Welfare Associations. This creates a sense of security among the citizens. In fact, all police officials from the rank of constable to top officials have been asked to send daily notes on how to bring down crime rate. We are getting some good ideas which are being implemented. But these will fetch results over the time. Don’t expect results overnight,” Mr Narayan said.