Andhra Pradesh crime rate comes down by 6 per cent: DGP Gautam Sawang

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh’s crime rate has come down by 6 per cent in the backdrop the state government enacting various legislations. Talking to media in Vijayawada on Sunday, DGP Goutham Sawang said that the Disha Act was path breaking while implementation of Zero FIR and other measures would go a long way in maintaining law and order.

He said that Spandana — a grievance forum — has shown effective results. Only 5 per cent cases are pending of the 55,121 petitions filed so far with the Home Department through Spandana. He added that they are implementing the Zero FIR registration system in every police station stringently and effectively. These would be helpful for speedy investigations.

“No other state police department has received seven National awards, and we are proud of our achievements,” the Andhra Pradesh GDP said. “Crime rate has come down by 6 per cent compared with last year. Our crime rate is 216 per one lakh population against the national average of 237 per one lakh population. If the cases registered during elections were excluded, the decreased crime could be 10 per cent,” Mr Sawang added.

The DGP said that professional efficiency and competence of the state police department was at 88 per cent, the highest for any state in the country. Meanwhile, the rate of rapes in the state was 2.09 per cent against the national average of 5.2 per cent. “Road accidents are an area of concern, and we are going to work on this by using our technology very efficiently. Murder and grievous hurt cases have come down, but small rioting cases have increased, and that was because of riots during the elections,” Gautam Sawang said.

He noted that the most significant aspect in the last six months was women safety issues and other initiatives taken up by the state government. He lauded the government for including a female police officer as part of the Village Secretariat System and Village, and Ward Samrakshana Samithi was a significant step. He also described the weekly off for police officers as a considerable welfare step. “Andhra Pradesh was the first state to take such an initiative in the country. It contributes to better delivery of police services,” Gautham Sawang added.

The police department has conducted Operation Dolphin Nose and Operation Muskaan, which were remarkable achievements. Operation Muskaan has rescued 5,738 children and helped reunite them with their parents. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has saved 46 lives in different situations.