Citysees47%dropincrimerate

The year 2020 was mostly spent tackling the coronavirus pandemic and following the lockdown norms imposed to curb the spread of the deadly virus. The lockdown, which was imposed in the third week of March last year, lasted for three months, followed by gradual unlocking. It not only helped contain COVID-19, but Mumbai’s crime rate as well, which fell 47 per cent as compared to that of 2019. From January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, the city recorded a total of 51,068 cases, which included 28,793 cases of lockdown violations. In 2019, a total of 41,931 cases were registered. If the cases of lockdown violations are exempted from the overall caseload in 2020, the city’s actual crime tally is 22,275 cases, which is a drop of 47 per cent compared to 2019. As per the latest figures released by the Mumbai Police, the decline has been recorded in almost all crime heads, including murder, crime against women, robbery, theft and so on. Only a marginal increase has been recorded in the cases of attempt to murder and that of vehicle theft.

Last year, 148 cases of murder were recorded. While, in 2019, 165 murder cases were recorded. In 2020, 614 robberies were recorded, 374 less than that of the previous year. The biggest decline was recorded in the cases of theft, which is 2,455 less than that of a year ago. In 2020, total 3,433 theft cases were registered. In 2019, the tally was 5,888. The lockdown has also helped the Mumbai Police improve its detection rate, which was 10 per cent above the 69% detection rate of the year 2019.