Even though the Commissionerate Police took a host of measures to downsize the offense graph, crimes like robbery, burglary, theft, swindling, murder and women atrocities registered a spurt in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in 2013.
This was revealed by the Annual Crime Report, 2013 released by the Commissionerate Police here on Tuesday. However, it attributed the spurge to big-size reporting of cases. In contrast, detection and recovery rates were also increased in comparison to the last year, it claimed.
According to the report, a total of 9,109 cases were reported in 2013 against 8,145 in 2012. Similarly, the detection rate increased to 7,212 cases last year compared to 6,679 in 2012.
A total of 507 burglary cases were reported in 2013 against the preceding year’s 432. On the other hand, recovery of stolen goods has also gone up from 27 per cent in 2012 to 41 per cent in 2013.
Ordinary theft cases increased to 2,378 from 1,952 in 2012. But 45 per cent of these cases were cracked by the police, the report revealed.
Robbery too went up marginally from 142 in 2012 to 143 in 2013. The recovery percentage of stolen goods surged to 77 in 2013 against 50 in 2012.
The twin-city police claimed that it cracked cases relating to murders of real estate developer Krushna Nayak, city businessman’s wife Bachansudha Pattanayak and Army doctor’s wife Ushashree Parida. However, the murder cases in the two cities recorded a marginal increase to 83 in 2013 from 82 in 2012.
What console the twin-city police are rape cases which has decreased marginally to 81 in 2013 against 84 in 2012. But the detection rate has also lowered to 80 against 84 in 2012. The report revealed a decrease in dowry related cases. While 439 such were reported in 2012, that came down to 329 last year. Similarly, swindling cases rose to 381 in 2013 from 250 in 2012. Registration of cases by investors duped by chit fund companies has increased the number.
There were 102 rioting cases last year against 96 in 2012. Around 1,5,078 traffic violators were fined in 2013. The number was 1,25,653 in 2012, the report said.
Releasing the report, Commissioner of Police Dr R P Sharma said, “We have taken several initiatives like revamping the night patrolling system and concentrating on open drinking and drunken driving, strengthening the PCRs to check the rise in crimes.” We have planned to place a psychologist desk at Mahila police stations to counsel husbands and wives. Besides, a three-tier night patrolling connecting the DCP office, all police stations and the police control room will be systemized, Dr Sharma said.