“There has been a fall of 7.46 per cent in the rate of heinous crimes (in first six months of 2009), and a 3-per cent fall in non-heinous crimes,” Dadwal said on Saturday afternoon. He was addressing the media at the police’s ‘half-yearly’ press conference.

He said the Capital’s crime graph is at an all-time low and barring snatchings and motor vehicle thefts, cases of both heinous and non-heinous crimes have gone down. Crimes chargeable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) stood at 372 per lakh in 1991; they stand at 264 per lakh so far this year. This, he stressed, is an all-time low in Delhi’s history.

The figure last year was 287 per lakh population, Dadwal added.

There have been 968 heinous crime cases registered till this June 30, as against 1,046 in the same period last year. The corresponding figures for non-heinous crimes are 23,365 and 24,089 for this year and 2008, respectively.

There might have been 251 murders and 226 rapes reported till June this year but Dadwal said that’s a drop. Relatively. The figures stood at 266 and 259, respectively, till June 30, 2008, he said.

Snatching cases, though, have increased — up from 604 in first six months of 2008 to 684 till this June-end — as have vehicle thefts: up from 4,905 to 5,432. Dadwal passed the onus on to car owners, saying they do not install hi-tech gadgets in cars to prevent theft.

According to the top cop, some 2.4 lakh two-wheelers were checked till date this year as part of a special drive. The result, he claimed, is a 60-per cent decrease in motor vehicles being used in robberies, and a 20-per cent dip in vehicles used in snatching incidents.

He said the police’s drive to register senior citizens is also doing good, adding that 8,397 senior citizens have registered with them till date. The police have also identified 31,744 senior citizens.

Besides, Dadwal said, the police plan to conduct a security audit for senior citizens’ safety.

On a brighter note, Dadwal announced that the police are likely to get 400 more sub-inspectors by this October and another 6,449 constables by January 2010.

He said the Delhi Police has detected nearly 10 lakh traffic violations till date this year — a jump of over 50 per cent from the corresponding period last year.