What's wrong with the governance in AP?

Something is wrong with governance in Andhra Pradesh. The number of rapes and other atrocities being committed against women on a frighteningly regular basis should have been a cause of concern to the government.

A 'Disha Act' and fast-track courts won't prevent crimes. The Chief Minister who displays so much concern for women in the public domain should know that policing is all about prevention of crimes and not about investigation alone. Or does he? A society cannot eliminate crime but it can always reduce it. Crime prevention aims at reducing crime with the help of various techniques and adopting different strategies and programs.

Crime prevention can take form in many different ways and should be prevented accordingly with the help of different strategies. A society can also benefit from crime prevention in several ways with a major focus on the safety and security of the people. In Andhra Pradesh, the crime rate is increasing every passing day. It has become a never-ending cycle of crime. Alas, we only have reactive policing where we hear our police officers proclaiming somewhat imperiously "look we caught the culprits in these many hours."

Due to ineffective policing, Andhra Pradesh is facing a hike in crime rate. Proactive Policing should have been adopted to avoid the occurrence of a crime and reduce the increasing crime rate which in turn will reduce the burden on the justice system. It also involves the examination of crime trends and educating the communities about crime prevention. The role of the police is very crucial in preventing crime at a local level as they can regularly observe the surroundings and anticipate an occurrence of a crime. Of what use are all those awards that the department wins at the national level if it watches helplessly crimes against women rise? Prevention of crime can only be done at the local level if there are ample resources available for the police.

Police surveillance is one of the activities that are used for crime prevention and is also considered effective. Prevention of crime by surveillance is done through 'deterrence' and creates fear in the mind of criminals that police are observing and have a constant presence. Although, if a crime occurs in an under-surveillance place, it benefits the police in the way that they would have evidence for investigation and/or would alert them for a reaction to the crime. Another activity to prevent crime is offender tracking. Offender Tracking system contains information about the prisoners or previously prosecuted criminals and that information makes it easy for police to catch the actual perpetrator.

Another pertinent question is whether there is any crime analysis being done at all. Andhra Pradesh police has yet another strange argument to cover up its failures: "More cases are being reported because we have become more accessible and are recording every crime." It must not be forgotten that most of the women victims are from the vulnerable sections of the society. The departmental reviews of the Chief Minister will not yield results as long as they look at the statistics alone. Cut the chaff, Sir! Let real policing replace the cosmetic law and order machinery.