Controlling street crime was a challenge: Jagadale on last day as Chandigarh SSP

SP (city) Vineet Kumar has been given the charge of SSP till the new officer is appointed

Controlling street crime remained a challenge, said Nilambari Vijay Jagadale, Chandigarh’s first woman senior superintendent of police (SSP) who relinquished her charge on Friday.

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“Street crime instils fear in the mind of people and we managed to bring down the snatching cases,” said Jagadale, who had joined office in 2017.

In 2017, the city recorded 238 snatching incidents, followed by 191 in 2018.

In May 2018, the Punjab and Haryana high court even reprimanded the SSP, taking note of the spike in snatching cases. The figures came down in 2019, with 122 cases. As many as 53 have been registered this year, so far.

“Mapping of the snatching-prone areas, making it compulsory for DSPs and SHOs to visit the crime spot and registering of cases against snatchers who stopped attending court hearings helped us bring down the numbers,” said Jagadale, who is returning to Punjab Police as the AIG, cyber, and director, Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Centre (crime), Mohali.

Corruption a major concern

Corruption in the department remained a major concern, so much so that UT administrator VP Singh Badnore had pointed to it during Chandigarh Police’s 51st Raising Day ceremony in November 2017. During her tenure, as many as 70 cops were suspended for indulging in graft or other immoral practices.

Interestingly, as she joined in Chandigarh, the charge of the crime branch — the most important wing of the police department — was taken away from the SSP, and she oversaw only law and order.

Projects remained non-starter

Taking charge shortly after the infamous Varnika Kundu case, Jagadale started the work on making the city safe for women. However, her project of hiring trained counsellors for women, children and senior citizens in distress by using the Nirbhaya fund could not see the light of the day.

Even on community policing front, her plans to have mohalla committees comprising with area residents for each police station could not take shape. “Owing to Covid-19 pandemic, these projects could not be started,” she said, adding that the pandemic helped change image of police and “we got close to the residents”.

Wait for new SSP

SP (city) Vineet Kumar has been given the charge of SSP till the new officer is appointed.

The UT had recommended Punjab-cadre officer Vivek Sheel Soni’s name for the SSP’s post to the MHA.

However, the MHA has forwarded Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal’s name to the department of personnel and training. The UT administration is yet to receive the final communication.