7
Jan
2014
By Calvin at 09:36 GMT, 12 years ago
It seems like New Delhi is bucking the general worldwide trend of falling crime figures with a continuous rise in crime year on year.
One reason given for this increase by Commissioner BS Bassi is that the police service has been given “strict instructions” to record “each and every complaint”. Crikey! That’s novel!
Interestingly the government is currently installing over 5,000 CCTV cameras across the city. Whether this will help remains to be seen, but my story on 13 November 2013 The Effects of CCTV on Crime – A Review published by The College of Policing would suggest that they are unlikely to have much impact.
I visited Delhi just after the last Commonwealth Games and stayed in the centre at Connaught Place. We and our friends had a fantastic time and met some lovely people, but there were problems.
Drug users wandering the streets were numerous; begging was endemic and we witnessed young children glue sniffing on several occasions. Most shops had security guards at the door to keep ‘certain types’ out and on one occasion I had to escape to one of these guarded shops to rid myself of the attention of a drug user whom I’d caught with his hand in my pocket! However, I think the low point of the visit was witnessing the corrupt activity of police officers dealing with a collision between two Tuk-Tuks. It was blatant; with cash taken from one of the Tuk-Tuk drivers being shared between three police officers’ trouser pockets.
With police corruption like this on the streets I don’t hold out much hope for the good people of New Delhi.
I shall keep an eye on what happens next, so watch this space.
Source Press TV http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01/05/343888/new-delhi-witnesses-over-40-percent-rise-in-crime-in-2013/default.html
Source Zee News: http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/over-40-percent-rise-in-crime-cases-in-delhi-in-2013_901252.html
