Telangana sees no major crime; cybercrime rose four times: DGP Mahender Reddy

Hyderabad: No major crimes were reported in the State in 2021, except for a stray incident at Bhainsa in Nirmal district. The year was peaceful and we were also successful in thwarting desperate efforts of the banned CPI (Maoist) party to revive their activities in the State, said DGP M Mahender Reddy, presenting the annual round-up on Friday.

He added, "the overall crime rate increased by four per cent, including grave offences like murder for gain, robberies, culpable homicide, kidnap and rape. The cybercrime rose four times. in comparison with previous years. Also, the conviction rate increased from 48.5 percent in 2020 to 50.03 percent. This includes the death sentence in one case and life imprisonment in 80 cases. A total of 38,312 cases ended in conviction this year."

Emphasising the use of technology to curb and detect crimes, Reddy said, "technology played a very important role in policing and crime detection, as Telangana has over 8.5 lakh CCTV cameras. Of them the lion's share are installed in the tri-Commissionerate's of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda. In 2021 alone, 186,568 cameras were installed. The goal to fix 10 lakh cameras in the State by the government, would be achieved soon. Also, it is very important for us to understand the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI); for this reason, we have also started using AI in our policing system."

"The target of a crimeless society could be achieved with the participation of the public and communities. The credit in making the State more safe goes to the public, as they have responded to the government's call and joined hands in this project, wherein several communities installed CCTV cameras and are ready to provide us critical information whenever needed," said Reddy.

"Several initiatives to increase awareness on cyber-crimes and crimes against women were introduced during the year. A state-of-art She Cyber Lab, equipped with advanced tools and cyber forensics for special focus on crimes against women and cybercrimes, started functioning. Through the CybHER programme, over 55 lakh people, including women, youth, students and several other sections have been reached".

"Through the Cyber Ambassadors Project, students of government schools across State are being trained to spread cyber safety awareness. We are also planning to work with the Education department to start safety clubs in institutions, once they start functioning on a full scale", the DGP added.