Drug menace and cybercrime top priority in Mumbai: City Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey

Sanjay Pandey, commissioner of police, Mumbai. Pic/Ashish Raje

Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey on Tuesday said curbing the drug menace and cybercrime in the city are his top priorities and that he is working on them.

While addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Pandey spoke about the increasing number of cybercrime cases in the city. "There is a basic problem when it comes to cybercrime in India. You all will be surprised that there is no specific law to deal with cybercrime except for a few sections of the Information Technology Act. There are countries like the UK and the US who have laws specific to deal with cyber fraud and also data protection act, which is the need of the hour in India," Pandey said.

The police commissioner also shed light on bringing changes in the police department where head constables will be put in charge to investigate small cases. "Burden of investigation is more often on officer ranking above sub-inspectors, but now head constables too will investigate small cases such as theft," he said.

Pandey also focused on other issues such as traffic and noise pollution. "I am here to work for Mumbaikars and I have started communicating with them on social media. I have also shared my phone number on a public platform because I believe that this is the best way to communicate and get feedback from citizens themselves," he said.

Expressing surprise over the fact that citizens speak more about traffic and noise pollution and less about crimes in the city, he said, "This means people's lives have been affected by traffic and noise pollution and no one has ever cared about it. Builders will be asked to sign a bond and if they keep violating the (noise pollution) law, they will have to pay a huge fine."