HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh police department on Wednesday held the state police’s annual press conference headed by Director General of Police Gautam Sawang at Amaravati. Addressing the press meet, the DGP said that the crime rate in the state has gone down remarkably this year. He said cognizable crimes have decreased by 16%, and bodily offences have decreased 2%, besides a reduction of 12.5% in crimes against women.
Appreciating the commitment of the AP police department for playing a major role during the pandemic, the DGP said that 2020 has been a challenge to mankind with Covid-19 taking the entire world by surprise. “AP Police have been exposed to danger, working day and night and have shown professionalism and bravery in these times of uncertainty,” he said, adding that around 20% of the police force have been infected by the virus.
OPERATION ‘MUSKAAN’
The police department under the supervision of DGP Sawang, formed 794 teams under “Operation Muskaan” with three phases of rescue operations across the state, in coordination with Child-Line, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and District Child Protection departments at all railway stations, bus stations, parks, hotels and rescued orphans and children who fled from their homes. At the annual meet, the DGP said, “We have created several Operation Muskaan campaigns and as many as 25,298 children were rescued by the police.
WOMEN SAFETY
The DGP also pointed out how the government has been taking care of the women’s safety in the state with enactment of Disha Bill along with other initiatives. Be it establishment of women help desks at all police stations to fixing a time frame for investigation and scheduling of trail, the police department worked round the clock for women’s safety.