Security Increased, Quick Redressal of Cases: AP DGP Gautam Sawang

VIJAYAWADA: AP Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang conducted the year-end annual crime review briefing to media persons on Tuesday, and unveiled the crime statistics report for the year 2021.

He spoke about the impact of various outreach programmes like Spandana, the Disha initiatives for the safety and security of women & children, technological innovations towards efficient & evidence-based policing.  The various measures taken up for the welfare of Police personnel, the awards received by the AP Police at the National level including AP ranking number one in SMART Policing in the country in Indian Police Foundation Citizen Satisfaction Survey 2021. The DGP also highlighted the key principles of the matrix for Change and Transformation of AP Police Dept since June, 2019 towards improved efficiency, transparency, accountability, people-friendly, and clean policing for effective and efficient public service delivery in line with the mandate of Government and vision of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Highlights from the report

-He said the number of road accidents, dowry harassment cases, and white-collar crime in the state has come down when compared to 2019. He said crime in all categories combined had dropped by 27 percent in 2019 and 18 percent in 2020.

-The DGP said the police provided special services during natural disasters. He said the government was investing heavily in the welfare of the police and the number of awards received at the national level was a testament to the performance of the state police.

He said the police system would be further strengthened with more technological innovations and policies next year. Crimes Against Women (CAW) cases have gone up by over 25 percent in Andhra Pradesh in 2021.

-The average days taken for investigation was considerably down to 42 days from 102 in 2020.

-The overall crime rate was up by three percent.

-As many as 1,27,127 cognizable crimes took place in the state as against 1,22,987 during 2020.

-The cases of crime against women, which constitute 14 percent in the overall crimes in the state, were at 17,736 in 2021 while it was 14,603 in 2020.

-AP Director General of Police Gautam Sawang said the rise in the number of cases in crimes against women should not be seen in a negative sense as the number indicates the access to the police and criminal justice system and awareness that the government is creating among women.

-“We have several outreach programmes for women to come forward and lodge complaints in case of any problems. Our Disha app, which was designed for women's safety, has over 97 lakh downloads, which indicates the level of awareness,” Sawang said.

-As many as 75 rape cases and 1,061 sexual offenses cases have been charged within seven days.

-The road accidents cases have come down, though not considerably, to 18,286 during the current year from 18,357 during last year.

FIRs and chargesheets filed

-We have expedited the investigation of cases so that the culprits can be punished quickly. In 2021, FIRs and chargesheets were filed at record levels. Of the 45,440 FIRs registered in 2021, 36 percent were from outreach activities such as enforcing COVID regulations, he said.

-Chargesheets accounted for 83 percent in 2018, 85.9 percent in 2019, 89.1 percent in 2020, and 90.2 percent in 2021.

15,715 Zero FIRs were registered. FIRs were registered in 75 rape cases and 1,061 sexual assault cases within 7 days. 1,551 chargesheets were registered in cyber bullying cases.

-A total of 40,404 FIRs were registered in the complaints received through the Spandana program and 96% of issues were resolved within 7 days.

- Penalties for convicts in 75 percent of cases

- A record number of punishments were meted out in 2021- 49.4% in 2017, 52.6% in 2018, 38.4% in 2019 and 69.7% in 2020  and 75.09 % were convicted in 2021.

-For the first time in the country, we destroyed 7,226 acres of cannabis cultivation under Operation Parivarthan. Its value in the international market is Rs 8,875.24 crore. We seized 1,694 vehicles and seized 3,13,514 kg of cannabis worth Rs 314.50 crore, 2,762 cannabis cases were registered and 43,293 cases were registered against those brewing illicit liquor and toddy.

-In 2021, the Maoist party suffered an irreparable blow in the state. There have been four encounters in the state this year, where six Maoists were killed. Four Maoist leaders and 43 militia members were arrested and 13 leaders and 5 militia members surrendered.

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