The Vizag City Police Commissionerate has recorded the highest recovery in property offences this year. While the property lost was Rs. 6.85 lakh, the property recovered was Rs. 5.35 lakh. The recovery rate of 78 per cent is the highest in the State this year, Police Commissioner B. Shivadhar Reddy has said.
In all, 1,429 property cases were booked during the year and 745 of them were detected so far. Though the detection rate was only 52 per cent, efforts would be made to improve the detection process. Property offences registered during 2011 were 1,569 and both detection and recovery rate was 65 per cent last year. During 2010, the cases registered were 1,573. While detection was 56 per cent, the recovery rate was only 53 per cent. The overall property crimes also declined considerably this year, the Police Commissioner said at a year-end media conference held on Thursday.
There was a noticeable decrease in road accidents despite the steady growth in the number of vehicles. Mr. Shivadhar Reddy attributed it to strict enforcement of traffic rules and booking of cases against violators. The number of road accident deaths had come down from 460 in 2010 to 432 in 2011 and 367 so far (till December 25) this year.
The number of cases booked under the Motor Vehicles Act increased from 90,892 in 2010 to 1.41 lakh during 2011, and 2.74 lakh during this year. The compounding fee collected from erring motorists increased from Rs. 2.21 crore in 2010 to Rs. 3.20 crore during 2011 to Rs. 4 crore this year. The cases include triple riding, drunken driving, and rash driving.
Replying to queries, he said the police would act tough with those who indulge in white collar crimes. During the last one month alone, two cases were booked against ‘Spark’ and ‘Magic’ and the accused would be arrested soon.
He, however, said the police could do little unless there were specific complaints from the victims in such cases. There were also other issues like RBI guidelines and verifications of documents.
“We are referring civil cases to the District Legal Services Authority and taking up those which had a criminal angle,” Mr. Shivadhar Reddy said.
New Year revelry
The Police Commissioner appealed to New Year revellers to ensure that their liberty did not infringe upon the rights of others. “Your liberty ends where the other person’s liberty begins,” he said.
The 25-km Beach Road from Naval Coast Battery to Bheemunipatnam would be under surveillance and strict measures would be taken to prevent rash driving, zigzag driving, and drunken driving.
Action would also be initiated against wine shops and bars that remained open after 1 a.m. on New Year.
Additional DCPs Atchuta Rao (Administration) and Mohd. Khan (Crime), and Assistant Commissioners of Police S. Venkata Rao (East) and M. Raja Rao (Traffic) were present.
