Crime rate in capital city twice State average

Despite introduction of Commissionerate of Police system, crime rate in the commissionarte area during 2008-13 was three per 1,000 population, which was 50 per cent more than that of the State average, revealed CAG in its report presented in State Assembly on Friday.It said operational efficiency of the Commissionerate Police system remained unevaluated as Key Performance Indicators had not been fixed to assess efficiency in functioning of policing system.

Crime prevention measures like timely intelligence gathering and effective patrolling as well as implementation of community policing needed improvement, it suggested.Enforcing and maintaining promptitude in responding to crime was lacking as out of 473 registered cases test checked, in 343 cases (73 per cent) time of first spot visit by police was not mentioned in the crime index register and in 27 cases (21 per cent) there was delay ranging from more than one hour to 10 hours 15 minutes in spot visit. Besides in 48 cases, FIRs were lodged with a delay of 1 to 56 days from the time of the entry in the station diary and in 88 cases, FIRs were not handed over to the complainant as of March 2014. Out of 7,764 cases pending for investigation with CP as of March 2014, 935 cases (12 per cent) were pending for more than five years.

Operational preparedness of the Commissionerate Police was marred by shortage of modern weaponry, availability of staff in police stations much below the norm prescribed by the Central Government, inadequate mobility support due to non-avaibility of adequate number of drivers, SPOs and non-separation of investigation from law and order. The department did not revise the sanctioned strength of police personnel in the Commissionerate as per the BPRD norm to equip the Commissionerate to effectively handle the crimes. Inspection and grievance redressal system remained weak, while disposal of complaints received was not given due importance.