The police in Ludhiana are an enterprising bunch. In 2012, they retrieved goods worth more than the value of those stolen that year, taking their recovery rate from 65% to 108%. If you want to get back your stolen property, Ludhiana is evidently the place to be.
Lakshadweep, however, is not as desirable. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the police in the union territory did not manage to find even a rupee's worth of goods amounting to Rs 98.4 lakh stolen there in 2011.
These are a few choice nuggets that emerge from an NCRB report tracking crime from 2001 to 2011. Of all the crimes in India in 2012, 14.2% were thefts. While the value of stolen items has risen steadily, the value of recovered goods has been erratic.
Those items the police do find, such as Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan’s buffaloes in the Uttar Pradesh town of Rampur, are of relatively low value. The NCRB tallies data for the value of recovered goods, and not the number of cases solved, which might explain the ridiculously varying percentages of recovery.
In 2011, Maharashtra topped all states with a whopping Rs 1,850 crore worth of goods being stolen. Of this, the police managed to recover only Rs 224 crore. Kerala, Delhi, West Bengal and Gujarat trail significantly. Kerala and Delhi make the bottom of the list of percentage of recoveries, with 2% and 4% recoveries respectively. However, neither can compete with Lakshadweep's stunning lack of performance, which does not even show up on a chart.
In 2011, Rs 6,585 crore worth of goods were stolen across the country, of which property worth Rs 1,225 crore was recovered. Nationwide, there is a one in five chance of recovering your stolen property.
There are a few items of property so frequently stolen that they merit their own category. These include cattle, cycles, fire arms, motor vehicles and communication wires. All other thefts fall so low on the radar that they are conveniently clubbed under ‘Others’.
According to the NCRB, motor vehicles were the most stolen items in 2012. Owning a car in Delhi is a risky proposition. You could be among the 75.1 people per 100,000 to have your vehicle stolen, as compared to a more conservative national rate of 12.1. Going by the Delhi police’s track record in recovering stolen items, you might never see your car again.
The prospect in cities is even worse. If you live in Ahmedabad, Kozhikode or Mumbai, you can be fairly certain that if your precious cow, cycle or LAN wire is stolen, you will never see it again.
We might as well all pack our bags for Ludhiana right now. They seem to be doing something right.
Lakshadweep, however, is not as desirable. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the police in the union territory did not manage to find even a rupee's worth of goods amounting to Rs 98.4 lakh stolen there in 2011.
These are a few choice nuggets that emerge from an NCRB report tracking crime from 2001 to 2011. Of all the crimes in India in 2012, 14.2% were thefts. While the value of stolen items has risen steadily, the value of recovered goods has been erratic.
Those items the police do find, such as Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan’s buffaloes in the Uttar Pradesh town of Rampur, are of relatively low value. The NCRB tallies data for the value of recovered goods, and not the number of cases solved, which might explain the ridiculously varying percentages of recovery.
In 2011, Maharashtra topped all states with a whopping Rs 1,850 crore worth of goods being stolen. Of this, the police managed to recover only Rs 224 crore. Kerala, Delhi, West Bengal and Gujarat trail significantly. Kerala and Delhi make the bottom of the list of percentage of recoveries, with 2% and 4% recoveries respectively. However, neither can compete with Lakshadweep's stunning lack of performance, which does not even show up on a chart.
In 2011, Rs 6,585 crore worth of goods were stolen across the country, of which property worth Rs 1,225 crore was recovered. Nationwide, there is a one in five chance of recovering your stolen property.
There are a few items of property so frequently stolen that they merit their own category. These include cattle, cycles, fire arms, motor vehicles and communication wires. All other thefts fall so low on the radar that they are conveniently clubbed under ‘Others’.
According to the NCRB, motor vehicles were the most stolen items in 2012. Owning a car in Delhi is a risky proposition. You could be among the 75.1 people per 100,000 to have your vehicle stolen, as compared to a more conservative national rate of 12.1. Going by the Delhi police’s track record in recovering stolen items, you might never see your car again.
The prospect in cities is even worse. If you live in Ahmedabad, Kozhikode or Mumbai, you can be fairly certain that if your precious cow, cycle or LAN wire is stolen, you will never see it again.
We might as well all pack our bags for Ludhiana right now. They seem to be doing something right.
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