The Hindu : New Delhi News : Citizens first, says K. K. Paul

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Saturday, Jan 06, 2007
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New Delhi

Citizens first, says K. K. Paul

Staff Reporter

Delhi Police Commissioner lauds his men for community policing

Police Commissioner K. K. Paul at his Press conference in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

NEW DELHI: Continuing to stress on the "citizens first" motto, Delhi's Police Commissioner K.K. Paul on Friday lauded his men and officers for some of the jobs done in terms of community policing and police modernisation during the year just gone by.

Addressing media persons at his annual press conference, Dr. Paul gave all the credit to the Capital's policemen for "maintaining order in public despite social turmoil and severe provocations".

Highlighting the achievements of the police during 2006, Dr. Paul said most of the figures indicated that the situation was well within control. While there was an increase of 3.6 per cent in crimes registered under the Indian Penal Section over the previous year, rape cases declined by 9 per cent. In all, 599 rape cases were registered last year and strangers were involved in only 2 per cent of these cases. No cases were reported from 27 police stations, while only five police stations accounted for nearly 20 per cent of such incidents.

The year also saw the Delhi police being awarded the Webber Seavey Award (for quality law enforcement by the International Association of Chiefs of Police at Boston) for the "Parivartan" project that was directed at women in slum clusters.

In the case of senior citizens, another vulnerable section in the Capital, Dr. Paul said the trend of a very few distress calls requiring direct police intervention continued in 2006 also. Many of them pertained to their dissatisfaction with civic agencies or problems from their neighbours and other such issues. While heinous crimes by servants came down, house robberies also decreased by over 5 per cent. The use of firearms in robberies also declined. Dr. Paul attributed this to record seizure of more than 11,000 illegal arms. The Licensing Branch also ensured that a little over 850 licences were issued for firearms.

With sealing, demolition and agitation against the reservation policy dominating the public domain through the year, the number of rioting incidents went up by more than 50 per cent. However, Dr. Paul maintained that the police managed to ensure that citizens' rights to express their opinion did not lead to public nuisance.

Quoting figures from the Directorate of Prosecution, Dr. Paul said the rate of conviction stood at about 55 per cent. There was scope for improvement on this count, he added.

While the number of murders and attempt to murders showed a minor increase, the number of suicides went up from 1,245 in 2005 to 1,492 in 2006. "They are more in number than the cases of murders and attempt to murders put together," said Dr. Paul.

On the welfare front, a decade-old project of the Delhi Police Housing Corporation was sanctioned. "With this the housing and other infrastructure facilities for the Delhi policemen would increase rapidly," said Dr. Paul. More than 2,000 flats are ready to be allotted to the Delhi police personnel this year.

In 2006, the Delhi police also got ISO certification for the recruitment process and Licensing Branch. Around 1,000 new women recruits were inducted into the Capital's police force taking their proportion to 6.8 per cent.

The number of complaints against police personnel declined by 18 per cent, besides a decrease in overall complaints with the Vigilance Department.

Two cyber crime cells set up at Malviya Nagar and Lodhi Colony have helped in solving 12 cases of cyber crime. Dr. Paul said with money transactions increasingly taking place online, cheats were operating in cyberspace duping people of their money and stealing crucial data.

Dr. Paul said around Diwali more than 1-lakh four-wheelers and well over 2-lakh two-wheelers were added to Delhi roads posing a new challenge for the traffic police.

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