Delhi: 46% rise in seizure of weapons leads to 20% decline in crime

NEW DELHI: In 1993, gun violence claimed 1,500 lives in New York and left 5,000 people injured. The city police department (NYPD) estimated that there were around 2 million guns in circulation that year. It aggressively cracked down on guns and enforced gun laws to bring about a stunning reduction in street crimes.

Delhi Police chief Amulya Patnaik has adopted a similar strategy, and it too seems to be working.A systematic crackdown on weapon manufacturers and suppliers has resulted in a spike of 46% in arms seizures this year. The crackdown has consequently resulted in a 20% decrease in street crime, cops say.
Delhi Police has recovered 736 weapons till March 31 this year as compared to 504 during same time period in 2018. Data accessed by TOI shows that 590 cases of robberies were reported in this quarter against 741 cases last year.
The strategy was adopted at a meeting between police commissioner Amulya Patnaik and officials of the special cell and crime branch early in January, where a clear directive was passed to initiate an all-out crackdown on weapon smugglers.
In the beginning of the year, Patnaik had said that tackling street crime and ensuring women safety were his top priorities. Subsequently, the officials conducted a study to ascertain the fire-arm usage in crime and other aspects.
“Efforts also made to map the chain of supply from source to destination apart from transit routes, mode of trafficking, end users and the manufacturers of the arms,” Patnaik said.
Illegal gun-runners were identified and surveillance mounted. Several teams from special cell camped for weeks in Munger in Bihar, Meerut and adjoining areas in UP apart from four districts of Madhya Pradesh.
According to cops, a majority of the gunrunners supplying weapons to city gangs were found to be from areas such as Dhar, Khargone and Badwani. The illegal arms issue was also discussed at inter-state coordination meetings with the representatives of the states concerned who were requested to direct the local police to initiate action.
According to DCP Madhur Verma, spokesperson of Delhi Police, the percentage of robbery cases being worked out has also gone up by around 6%. “This year, we have solved 75% of robberies. In terms of figures, 442 reported cases were worked out and 804 people were arrested. Our analysis also shows that 91.4% of the arrested criminals were first timers while 48.7% of the accused were either illiterate or school dropouts,” DCP Verma said.