With the District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) and the City Crime Records Bureau (CCRB) officials sending erroneous data on the cases registered against police personnel during 2019, Andhra Pradesh, with 1,681 such cases, has topped the list in the country in the recently released National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
The actual number of cases registered against the police, however, was 111 last year. The negligence of some staff has brought the dubious distinction to the State. The number of cases registered against police personnel was 97 in 2018.
DGP blames negligence
“Andhra Pradesh, which should have been in the ninth place in registering cases against police personnel, has topped the list due to negligence of some staff,” Director General of Police (DGP) D. Gautam Sawang told the The Hindu. The Andhra Pradesh police will write a letter to the NCRB, seeking correction of the data on the cases registered against police personnel in the State last year, he said.
Even the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) officials did not check the data before sending it to the NCRB. The Chittoor DCRB staff have put the figure at 409, instead of actual four cases and the Visakhapatnam (Rural) DCRB sent the number of cases booked against police personnel in the district as 972 last year, while only two cases were registered.
Similarly, the Visakhapatnam CCRB sent the cases as 257, while only one such case was registered in the city last year. The SCRB officials forwarded the same data to the NCRB.
According to officials, Anantapur police registered 18 cases against their department staff on different charges last year, followed by Prakasam and West Godavari (13 each), Guntur Rural and Kurnool (12 each), Krishna (10) , Kadapa (9), Vijayawada Commissionerate (6), Rajamahendravaram (5), Chittoor (4), Vizianagaram (3), Visakhapatnam Rural (2), Guntur (Urban), East Godavari and Visakhapatnam Commissionerate Police and Guntakal Railway Police (one case each).
“The Visakhapatnam Rural, Visakhapatnam Commissionerate and Chittoor district put the cases in hundreds, which were only two, one and four cases respectively. We are trying to find out where the things went wrong,” Mr. Sawang said.