JOIN USPolice Commissioner M A Saleem claimed that Mysuru could soon be transformed into a crime-free city, if the police personnel function in the same way as now, for some more time.
Speaking during the launch of the ‘Crime Prevention Month’, here, on Monday, he also claimed that the crime rate in the city has come down by drastically, as a result of the positive steps taken by the department since the past one year.
This year’s Crime Prevention Month will focus on creating awareness among people in preventing atrocities on women and children, compensation to victims of such crimes and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
MLA M A Somasekhar launched a jatha, organised as part of the observation, in front of Kote Anjaneyaswamy temple. School children and police personnel took part in the jatha held with an objective to create awareness among the people about available legal aid and measures to be taken to prevent crime. The jatha was led by Mounted Police personnel, followed by staff from over 20 police stations and children, displaying placards.
Saleem said, as December is the last month of the year, steps were being taken by the department to reenergise staffers, streamline administration, speed up investigation and bust pending cases, return valuables recovered from accused and also reform accused persons.
Later speaking to media persons, he said that frequent drives against traffic violations in the last eleven months had seen an increase in the number of cases being reported. As many as 3.62 lakh cases were booked in the year 2013, and this year, the number of cases had crossed six lakh, he said.
He also claimed that the number of crimes reported had come down by 40 per cent this year, with 43 chain snatching, 78 house burglary, 306 vehicle theft, and 21 extortion cases. In 2013, there as many as 107 chain snatching, 147 house burglary, 502 vehicle theft, and 47 extortion cases were reported. He said that the reason for the decline in chain snatching cases was owing to the police ensuring that chain snatchers are not given bail easily.
Women’s safety
He appealed women to come forward to file cases if they have been victimised. A four and half minute film on women’s safety will be screened in all colleges in the city. He also asked women to drop complaints in pink boxes kept at 50 different places in city.
Saleem noted that the response to pink boxes was poor, with a majority of the complaints pertaining to eve teasing. Except for a couple of boxes kept in Lakshmipuram area, the response was poor in others.
DH News Service