Crime and Mumbai: Manpower crunch, burgeoning population pose problems for Dindoshi cops

Among the most common cases here were that of causing hurt (160) and motor vehicle thefts (89). The police have been able to solve only seven cases of motor vehicle theft, a dismal detection rate of 8%...

Dindoshi’s is problem of plenty — plenty of crime, a lot of people and a poorly-staffed police station.

Overall, the Dindoshi police have solved only 51 % of all the cases filed. (Representation pic)

Covering parts of Goregaon (East) and Malad (East), the Dindoshi police station recorded the most number of crimes in the entire city in 2016, at 997 cases. It oversees a population of 10 lakh people who are protected by 178 police personnel.

Dindoshi’s is also a problem of diversity. Here, you can find several high-rise, upmarket residential complexes, a popular shopping mall and crowded tenements of the Slum Rehabilitation Association (SRA) scheme. There are slums where daily wage labourers and unemployed youth live. According to the police, many young, unemployed men were turning to crime and most of them are repeat offenders. Based on the crime pattern over the past few years, local police officials said a little more than 50% cases were from the slum localities of Santosh Nagar and Shiv Shahi areas.

Among the most common cases here were that of causing hurt (160) and motor vehicle thefts (89).
The police have been able to solve only seven cases of motor vehicle theft, a dismal detection rate of 8 %. Overall, too, the police have solved only 51 % of all the cases filed.

Officers working in the area said they would solve more cases if they were given more personnel. “The strength of the staff at the Dindoshi police station is only 178. Compare this with the entire population in the jurisdiction and the area we oversee. We need more staff to handle things better,” said Avinash Sawant, senior inspector at Dindoshi police station.

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