NEW DELHI: “You love them or hate them but you can’t ignore them”, suits best to the Delhi police as despite a major staff crunch, the police has drastically brought down incidents of road rage in the national capital.
The hotheadedness of Delhiites on road has always been a serious issue and has even proved to be fatal on many occasions, but through strict vigil and various other initiatives by the Delhi police, such incidents have shown a decline.
According to the Delhi police, in 2018, till November, only 53 cases of road rage were registered, compared to 64 cases registered in 2017.
In 2015, there were 92 cases of road rage registered in the city, which slipped to 66 cases in 2016.
From 2015 to 2018, the figures had shown a steep fall despite the Delhi police facing shortage of 12 thousand staff.
The Delhi police stated that the present strength of Delhi police, till December 2018, is only 77,099, against the sanctioned strength of 89,669 personnel.
However, the staff crunch is just a number for the police when it comes to controlling crime in the city, as the road rage data clearly depicts it.
“It is true that shortage of staff leads to hectic duty timings, affecting the health of police personnel, and even sometimes make them sound rude when it comes to public interaction, but the commitment towards keeping the city safe and crime-free is our prime and only objective,” said a senior police official.
Furthermore, the Delhi police has launched various initiatives to curb crimes and hooliganism on roads with emphasis on beat patrolling, enhancing police presence and patrolling, identification of vulnerable areas and targeted checking of suspicious persons, they added.
