Visakhapatnam: City police to focus on combating cybercrimes
- 1. Commissioner says number of cybercrimes has come down by 27% in 2023 when compared with 2022
- 2. City registered 295 road mishaps this year in which 317 people lost lives as against 345 mishaps last year
- 3. City becomes a major transit hub for drugs though there are less consumers
Visakhapatnam : Prevention of cybercrime is a challenging task. Technology and manpower with special technical skills will be utilised to combat the menace, commissioner of police A Ravi Shankar said.
Sharing the plans in place on Friday, the commissioner of police said that 279 cybercrime cases were registered in 2021, while it rose to 610 the next year. In 2023, the total number of cybercrime cases came down to 410. “In Visakhapatnam, the overall crime has decreased by 27 per cent compared to previous year. A total of 4,494 cases were registered in 2022, the count has reduced to 3,513 in the current year so far,” the CP informed.
However, when it comes to property loss, Rs 9.23 crore was lost in 2021, while the loss was to the tune of Rs 31.79 crore in 2023, the CP explained. As many as 1,995 bank accounts were frozen while cracking the cases.
Speaking about road accidents, the CP informed that 345 road accidents were recorded last year claiming 358 lives whereas the 295 mishaps registered in 2023 resulting in death of 317 people.
With an increase in enforcement, the murder rate in the city has come down as well. In 2022, 39 murders were registered, while there were 24 in 2023. In 2022, 127 rape cases were registered, they were 78 the following the year. In 2021, 1,098 harassment cases (498A) were recorded in the city and it was reduced to 479 in 2023 so far.
Talking about the drug menace in the city, the CP said that although there are less consumers in the city, Visakhapatnam has become a major transit hub for the peddlers. “237 persons were accused under the NDPS Act from different states this year. Of them, 167 are in custody. A majority of the accused belong to Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka, among other states,” the CP added in the year-end meeting held on Friday.
In a step to control crime rate in Visakhapatnam, the CP opined that people’s involvement plays a crucial role along with the police personnel to maintain law and order in the city.
