Bangalore much safer, say cops. Are they right?

Crime rate has gone down in the city, or has it?

While commissioner of police BG Jyothi Prakash Mirji on Sunday praised his men for successfully reining in crime in 2011, statistics complied by his very own City Crime Record Bureau (CCRB) show otherwise.

“Bangalore city police have worked towards bringing down the crime rate in the city,” he said. “We have done it successfully and have brought down the crime rate compared to last year.”

According to CCRB’s statistics, there has been a decline in the number of murders in the city — 198 in 2011 (till November 30) compared with 266 in 2010 and 256 in 2009. But at the same time 414 robbery cases were reported in Bangalore in 2011 (till November 30), more than in 2010 or 2009. Similarly, till November last year, 1,987 cases of house thefts were documented, again more than in 2010 or 2009. There was also a steep rise in mugging incidents in 2011.

But why let statistics come in the way of some self-congratulation?
On Monday, additional commissioner of police (law and order) T Suneel Kumar said, “Last year, there were more ‘marital disputes murders’. This year, the number has come down. We cannot say this is the main reason for the decrease in the number of murders. The police have worked to bring the numbers down.”

DGP Shankar M Bidri went further while lauding the state police and said Karnataka had the best policing system in the world. “We are best not only in the country, but in the world,” he said. “We are the only police department which recovers stolen properties in maximum cases and returns them to the owners.”