The Pimpri-Chinchwad police has started “spatial and temporal” mapping of crime data of the last three to five years to identify hotposts for each category of crime. Police officials said this would help in scientifically strategizing and better utilization of available resources to tackle crime.
The exercise, which began three weeks ago, is being carried out in all 15 police stations of the city as well as in various branches of the crime branch.
Officials are preparing graphs, pie charts and geographical maps of police station jurisdictions where “crime hotspots” are being identified and analyzed.
Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash said, “We have started mapping the temporal – time-related, and spatial – space-related, crime data. The concept of predictive policing emphasizes the analysis of past data to devise methodologies to prevent future crimes. For example, one of the analysis we are doing is of vehicles. We study the patterns of times and places of vehicle theft. We are trying to understand whether vehicles of a particular make are getting stolen more and also whether there is any pattern of how the theft has actually been carried out. Then there is another study of secluded areas where crime has been observed. We are studying lighting, presence of CCTV cameras and availability of motorable roads for patrolling…”
Officials said that understanding crime trends on the lines of state level and national level crime databases could be the key to better and efficient policing.
All states collate data on crime to understand the pattern and make policy decisions accordingly. In Maharashtra, the Pune-headquartered Criminal Investigation Department (CID) collates and analyzes annual crime data.
Similarly, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) collects data from all states to analyze crime trends at the national level.
Officials said a recent analysis of CCTV footage and theft patterns in rural areas in the past nine months led the crime branch to bust a gang of thieves and solve 48 house breaking cases since 2019.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Manchak Ipar said, “The mapping has helped us identify hotspots for crime heads like chain snatching and dacoity, vehicle theft, house-breaking, night crimes and body crimes. Scientifically designed hotspots will help us improve the patrolling system of beat marshals. ”
Prakash said, “… a similar analysis has been done on attempted burglary or theft at ATM kiosks. Almost all recent cases have shown a pattern. They occur in industrial areas where there are fewer people at night time.” The targeted kiosks had no security, no alarm system and inadequate security camera cover. We are taking steps that involve the participation of all stakeholders.”
Inspector-in-Charge of a police station in Pimpri-Chinchwad said, “At the police station level, we are identifying hotspots under each police post or post. These places are being marked on the map of our jurisdiction along with the time pattern.
Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Jurisdiction was created in 2018 by carving out areas from Pune City and Pune Rural Jurisdiction. Pimpri-Chinchwad is a combination of municipal areas as well as old residential areas, modern urban places and an industrial township, some rural and semi-urban areas also come under this police unit.
The area of responsibility also includes residential, commercial and industrial areas along the Pune-Mumbai highway, which have a significant temporary migrant population. This combination has given the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate a unique crime profile. At present, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police has 15 police stations with a strength of over 3,000 personnel.
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