Chennai: In the wake of the severe criticism against police for the recent spate of murders, robberies and kidnappings from across the state, DGP Ashok Kumar has called for a meeting of zonal inspectors general and city police commissioners (except Chennai COP) to review the situation. The last such meeting was held more than a year ago, said senior police officers. "For some reason, it was discontinued for a long time," said an officer posted in a district. In a memorandum circulated to officers concerned on Tuesday, Kumar said he wanted the meeting in the "next two months". Kumar is retiring in November. "It is a normal, routine crime meeting. I had held four to five such meetings earlier also," said Kumar. Asked if the last such meeting was held a year ago, he said he was not sure. Kumar has instructed officials to collect data under various crime heads in the past three years. They include instances of missing children, property crimes, suspicious deaths, murder for gain, undetected murder cases, cases not charge-sheeted for a long time and instances of inordinate delay in trials. As per National Crime Records Bureau statistics for 2015, Tamil Nadu is the second most unsafe state for senior citizens, with 168 elderly people killed last year. after Maharashtra (173). It is the third highest in caste murders, after Jharkhand and UP. As regards crimes against children, TN is the fourth highest and 9% of child trafficking cases in the country were reported from TN which was third highest in rioting too. Some earlier DGPs held monthly crime review meetings ahead of the monthly law and order review meetings convened by the chief secretary, said retired DGP Anoop Jaiswal. "There is no hard and fast rule. Some held quarterly review meetings. Of course, meetings help discuss crimes and analyse reasons and patterns. Especially, organised crimes need to be treated differently."
