Concerns rise over snatching cases: Top cop reviews work of 190 anti-snatching teams
New Delhi: Whether it is the busy street in broad daylight or dark lanes of the city, snatchers strike anytime and target anybody and anything that they come across with. To ensure that the situation does not get worse, the Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik held a meeting with districts' DCPs and Railways unit of the police department, and reviewed the performance of 190 anti snatching teams in the city.
Police sources told Millennium Post that the police chief assessed all the details from the senior officers which include the number of cases solved by the anti-snatching teams in Delhi.
The move came after the snatchers dragged some women, and targeted senior citizens on the streets of Delhi. In some cases, they also brandished weapons to make sure that they did not fail in their snatching attempt. They also changed modus operandi in order to dodge the police. A horrific CCTV footage of snatching surfaced where it could be seen that a woman was dragged behind a motorcycle while trying to chase two bike-borne assailants, who robbed her in Delhi's Janakpuri in May.
The details revealed that there are as many as 315 snatchers currently active in the city whereas 171 snatchers were silent as the law enforcement agency has not found any activity from their (snatchers) side. Sources further revealed that as many as 686 snatchers were nabbed by the anti-snatching teams and 881 cases were solved.
During various snatching incidents, the snatchers were not even hesitate to use their weapons. As many as 103 firearms and 38 knives were recovered from snatchers by the anti-snatching teams. The top cop had ordered districts and units for strict action against street crime and criminals using firearms. In the current year, as many as 1,217 weapons were recovered during picket checking.
According to Delhi Police, last year as many as 6,642 cases of snatching were reported as compared to 8,070 cases in 2017. Nearly 96.66 per cent of the total arrested criminals were first-time offenders and 54.90 per cent of them were illiterates or school drop-outs. In current year till May 15, as many as 2,444 cases of snatching were reported.
Snatchers don't even shy away from violence
On January 13, 2018, a lady complainant reported at Kirti Nagar police station that she was robbed of her purse at Rama Road by a biker along with pillion rider. She also got injured due to manhandling by the robbers. Police arrested two people including a woman who dresses like a male to mislead and misguide the victims at the time of commissioning of the crime.
In April, a Tanzanian citizen fell victim to the ever-increasing plight of snatching right outside her place of residence in the city where her purse was robbed by bike-riding snatchers.
In 2017, a 50-year-old woman was going to Kashmere Gate where two men on a motorcycle hit the auto rickshaw and tried to snatch her bag. In a bid to foil the snatching bid, she tried everything but the two accused dragged her down from the vehicle which resulted in injury. Not only that, there are several cases in which snatchers targeted people near the police headquarters.
According to Delhi Police, for prevention of crime, particularly street crime, multi-pronged strategies were adopted which includes crime mapping and identification of hot spots, dynamic deployment with a focus on identified areas, increased the visibility of police on streets including group patrolling led by District DCsP/Addl.DCsP.
Defunct cameras helping snatchers
The CCTV cameras in the city play an important role in curbing crime but if it is not working it can create trouble during the investigation. As many as 1,368 CCTV cameras in Delhi were found non-functional in different parts of the city. The reasons were found to be damages caused by the third party including other government bodies, due to non-maintenance of by a firm, theft of the equipment.
