Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh has witnessed a drop in rape cases during 2012 and the police chief attributed this to visible policing, drive against harassment of women and the special emphasis on crimes against women.
Director General of Police V. Dinesh Reddy told reporters here Monday that that rape cases came down to 1,191 during the year from 1,291 during 2011.
Reddy said ever since he took over one-and-half year ago, he had been giving emphasis on visible policing.
“We are opening sub-controls under each police station in urban centres so that there is more police visibility on roads. By being visible on roads itself is creating a deterrent,” he said.
The DGP said there is a proposal to have one woman at every police station to receive complaints from women.
A model police station is currently being developed in Hyderabad with two separate wings – one for receiving the complaints and the other a technical wing. “Once approved, this model is going to be adopted for the entire state,” he said.
The police chief said efforts were on to appoint only women as station house officers at women police stations. He claimed that the state has sufficient women police personnel but there is need for recruitment of more women.
He pointed out that senior officers were handling the cases of crimes against women and a special cell has also been created in the Crime Investigation Department (CID).
