Nagpur: The city police had faced criticism after Nagpur gained dubious distinction dubious distinction of being second in crime rate as per 2016 data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The cops now want to re-establish its image and are taking steps in the right direction. Adopting ‘Criminal Intensive Surveillance Project’ (CRISP) in August last year, city cops have managed to lessen around 570 crimes till May 2018.With the monsoon season to be held in city for the first time, city police are diligently implementing the preventive measures under CRISP to ensure the opposition is devoid of any opportunities to take a dig at the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis calling his base a ‘crime capital’.The project, a brainchild of city police chief K Venkatesham and Joint CP Shivaji Bodkhe, involves an intensified form of relentless vigilance devised for keeping the hard-core criminals under check.DCP, Crime, Sambhaji Kadam described the functioning of the police machinery under CRISP as a four-tier system involving three layers of police station and one of his unit (crime branch). “A criminal on record would be checked by four layers of policing ranging from police station to crime branch which should act as a deterrent. It’s also a psychological pressure on a criminal as he or she would have to tackle the surveillance by different squads one after another,” said Kadam.He cited the fall in the reported crimes by 96 in five months after its launch in August 2017 and another 474 till May this year to support his argument about effectiveness of CRISP.The city, which had a notoriety of being a place where murders take place even on minimum provocation or trivial issues like road rage and dispute over paltry sums, now has a reduced rate in such crimes. Till April 2017, there were 31 murders which is 10 less in the same month this year.There were 3,163 crime incidents in 2017 which has come down to 2,848 in the same period this year which the cops are now highlighting as a direct consequence of fruitful implementation of CRISP. The overall detection rate in 2018 too has improved from 57% till May 2017 to 61% this year in the same period.Kadam said the project focuses on prevention which revolves around pro-active policing. It also involves improving the momentum of the court cases against the criminals. “Many trials are pending due to non-appearance of the criminals during hearing. We have also improved the services of the summons and warrants through the project which is expediting the court cases against the offenders which in turn would increase the prospect of convictions too,” he said.In the hindsight, the city cops are now trying to analyse the rise in the cases of dacoity this year which have increased by 9 till April 2018 while there had been nil in the same period last year. There is also a rise in cases of hurts, rioting and kidnapping.

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