While the annual report of the Delhi Police focuses on crimes that happened in the year that just went by, a new and alarming trend is being seen in the number of thefts reported in the city in the current year.
15 cases an hour
As many as 11,216 cases have been reported so far this year. This translates to 361 cases a day or 15 every hour. That is also the number of “other thefts” reported in the city in January itself. This is more than twice the number of thefts reported in the corresponding month in 2016 and significantly higher than the monthly average that year .
Sample this. In the whole of 2016, as many as 77,563 thefts were reported i.e. loss of property.
This translates to a monthly average of 6,463 thefts which is 4,752 less than the figure reported in January 2017. Even in January 2016, the figure was 4,861.
The ‘other thefts’ category is excluding the motor vehicle thefts or house thefts and burglaries reported in the city. The category includes cases for which the police have provided the option of registering online.
Year-on-year rise
This was reflected in the year-on-year rise in the numbers last year too as the number of other thefts registered was 56,385 in 2015. The Delhi Police officers also attribute the trend of rising numbers to the option of reporting theft having been made easier through the online procedure.
Scrutinised cases
What is not available is data on how many of these cases have been solved or even scrutnised. The police explanation that a lot of cases that should otherwise be categorised as those of lost articles get listed as thefts even if they are not. The counter point, as many users have experienced, is that there is little follow up in these cases from the police and the app is largely redundant.
No upadate on progress
This further reduces the possibility of these cases ever being solved.
Several complainants have told The Hindu that they never even received a call from any Investigation Officer for gathering details. Those who do are hardly ever updated about the progress of the cases.
