Amid the generic expression of despair that Delhi has turned into a crime capital of the country, it is important to bust a myth in the beginning of this piece. In terms of number of crimes registered per 100,000 residents, the national capital is not the worst city in the country. Smaller cities like Kochi are far worse affected and contribute significantly to the crime numbers. Thus, the likelihood of being a victim of a rape or another crime, is actually far higher in many other Indian cities than Delhi. However, it is also true that this city of 16 million people is the worst among the Indian megacities in terms of absolute number of crime cases. Worse still, all categories of crime have risen in the city, in spite of the fact that the Delhi Police arguably is perhaps the best in the country, in terms of numbers and capacities.
It is further important to underline that crime rates in all the megacities in the world are declining, even in the days of bad economy. The city of New York, known in the past for the large number of homicides, has been able to bring down the figure drastically. A peak in this regard was achieved in November 2012, when for more than 36 hours no one was shot, stabbed or killed in the city of about nine million people. New York’s crime rate, in fact, has been on the decline since the 1990s. Compared to nearly 2,300 murders in 1990, only 472 homicides were recorded in 2011. Similarly, in 2012, London recorded barely 89 homicides, compared to 121 in 2011. Crime rates have declined in Moscow, Paris and Beijing. Delhi’s crime figures, in comparison, have consistently increased, by 4 per cent during 2011 and another 2 per cent during 2012.
Like any other city in the country, New Delhi’s rising crime profile has been repeatedly blamed on the migrants. In 2010, then Home Minister P Chidambaram had linked rising crime with “a kind of behaviour” the migrants bring along with them from their places of origin. While Chidambaram does have a point in this regard, it is also useful to locate the national capital’s rising crime in terms of its locational disadvantages, being surrounded by areas that are affected by high degree of crime.
For example, in the latest listing of 276 cities worldwide to draw up the global crime index, Gurgaon is numbered 27 from below with a crime index of 65.51 and safety index of 34.49. Noida, another suburban built-up area that abuts New Delhi, is even worse at the 11th position, with a crime index of 75 and a safety index of 25. It could be useful to analyse how much of this crime in its periphery is spilling over into New Delhi and how effective have been the plans to prevent such an overflow.
Even with these existing drawbacks, preventing crime appears to be a question of intent rather than capacities for the Delhi Police. Much has been written about its police strength, the attitudes of the policemen and the overall policing shortcomings. It may be, however, recalled that with all its existing problems, the Delhi Police had managed to bring down the crime rate significantly during the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In the words of the then police commissioner, heinous crime fell by 46.4 per cent, incidents of homicide fell by 52 per cent and even accidents fell by 47 per cent during that period, demonstrating the fact that Delhi can be far more safe with the existing policing capacities than what it is at present.
Both the lack of initiatives to ensure continual and optimal use of existing capacities and the failure to modernise at an acceptable pace continue to remain at the core of the problem. Delhi Police’s surveillance projects, which could have helped track down criminals, are said to have left unimplemented due to fund crunch. The Delhi Police received `1,874 crore against its demand of `4,028 crore, forcing it to drop at least 27 of 72 important projects that were lined up for the 2012-17 period. Ironically, the Delhi Police also erred for not using the funds that is already in its kitty. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India recently criticised the Delhi Police for spending barely 27 per cent of the funds sanctioned for modernising the traffic system and its communications network.
The suggestion for capacity augmentation among the police, political and bureaucratic leadership has been repeated far too often. While that remains important, an augmentation in intent needs to precede for any futuristic plan to succeed. A drastic shake-up, to ensure that, could be the very first step in this regard.
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