Thimphu police have registered 1,060 criminal cases in 2020 till date with drugs cases being the highest with 202 cases (mainly drug abuse). The other common cases are battery with 178 cases, larceny with 143 cases, burglary with 71 cases and auto stripping with 48 cases.
In 2019, they registered 1,999 cases with larceny being the highest with 390 cases followed by drugs with 303 cases. Other crimes were battery cases at 265, burglary at 158 cases and auto stripping with 101 cases.
The remaining crimes in both the years comprises of cases like child molestation, sexual harassment, murder and Missing of Person (MoP) which are lesser in number.
The Officer Commanding (OC) said that they have seen decrease in crime as a whole this year due to COVID-19 situation. The temporary closure of entertainment centers, early closure of shops and increase in intensive patrolling has contributed to a decrease in crime, he said.
However, he said, “Though there is decrease in crime this year, we had our own challenges like shortage of manpower being the main one. Maximum drugs cases involved unemployed youths because they feel this is the easiest way to make money. So, unemployment issue probably contributes to involvement of youths in crime.”
He said they are trying every possible way to reduce crime adding that installation of CCTV cameras in various places has helped them in nabbing the culprits.
During lockdown, the maximum cases that they have received are related to domestic violence.