Crime in the national capital increased by 12 per cent in 2017, due to factors like high number of migrants and economic disparity, slack family control have a bearing on the rising figures, according to Delhi Police.

Though police records claimed that major crimes like rape and murder had declined, increase in motor vehicle thefts continued to be an area of concern.

According to the data shared by Delhi Police, 2,23,075 cases were registered in 2017 as compared to 1,99,110 in 2016. The total Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes per lakh of population during 2017 was 1,263 in comparison to 1,137 in 2016.

The police said that the increase in the number of cases registered was due to “fair registration of crimes, online registration of FIRs pertaining to property thefts and motor vehicle robbery and registration of FIRs on all complaints of women.”

Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik said that “socio-economic disparities” were a significant criminogenic factor, coupled with other issues.

“Socio-economic disparities between the opulent and the less affluent are a significant criminogenic factor, and the resultant youth impatience, driven by a pronounced get-rich-quick penchant, gets discernibly reflected in delinquent street demeanour,” Patnaik said.

The Delhi Police chief said that issues of women’s safety and the menace of street crime demanded a focused strategy.

With incidents of terror occurring frequently across the globe, anti-terror measures were also on the top of their list, he stated.

Patnaik said that their focus last year was on preventive policing rather than reactive policing. “Beat-in-focus policing, identification of active criminals and effective surveillance on them and high visibility of police on streets led to a reduction in heinous crimes by 23.43 per cent last year. Street crimes like robberies and snatchings also declined by 21.05 per cent,” he remarked.

R P Upadhyaya, special commissioner of police (Crime), said that 6,057 heinous crimes were reported in 2017 as opposed to 7,910 in 2016, thereby showing a decline of 23.43 per cent.

The senior officer said that unplanned urbanisation, urban anonymity are some of the factors that impact crime in Delhi. “The large expansion of new colonies like Dwarka and Rohini and mushrooming of numerous unplanned colnies is important criminogenic factors. A substantial population is living in jhuggis and are facing lack of civic amenities,” he elaborated.

Statistics showed a minor decline of 0.73 per cent in rape cases. Murder cases also showed a decline by 7.78 per cent and dacoities showed a decline of 20 per cent.

The police claimed that insistence on focused investigation led to a high rate of detection of heinous cases which was 87.98 per cent in 2017 as opposed to 71.81 per cent in 2016.

A total of 60,10,772 challans were issued by the Delhi Traffic Police last year, with the police collecting Rs 94.25 crore.

Statistics also showed a minor decline of 0.9 per cent in the fatal accidents. That was attributed to the measures like suitable deployment of night checking-cum-patrolling parties by the traffic police and analysis of accidents.