The police have come up with statistics to counter the claims by residents of Strand Marg in South Mumbai that petty crimes have been on the rise in the bylanes of their neighbourhood, which they said was due to police focusing more on security on main roads, major hotels and cafés post 26/11.

Statistics available at the Zone 1 Deputy Commissioner of Police’s office, comparing the crimes between September 26, 2007 and June 9, 2008 against those committed during the same period a year later, indicate that petty crimes in the area have actually come down considerably — a trend police attribute to intensive patrolling, nakabandis and preventive arrests.

“While street-patrolling and nakabandis were a routine earlier too, in the last six months we have intensified these activities. We have conducted several surprise mass raids, nakabandis and combing operations at locations which are haunts of petty criminals. Proceedings were initiated against 4,800 persons under the Bombay Police Act and against 1,669 persons under the Criminal Procedure Code. Once the criminals are off the roads, crimes automatically reduce,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 1, Vishwas Nangre-Patil adding that these preventive measures were likely to continue.

According to police officials from the seven police stations in Zone 1 — Azad Maidan, M R A Marg, J J Marg, Dongri, Colaba, Marine Drive and Cuffe Parade — petty criminals are usually found in areas like the Crawford Market, Musafirkhana, Fashion Street and the Cross Maidan during the night.

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