Bhubaneswar, June 17: Police will intensify night patrolling in view of the recent spurt in crimes in the twin cities.

After drawing flak for the growing crime rate, commissioner of police Sunil Roy said cops would stress on patrolling.

“We will intensify patrolling and emphasise on night vigil. When the forces that are undergoing training join the ranks, we will also be able to provide proper service, which has been affected by shortage of manpower,” said Roy.

Roy said that there had been an increase in the crime rate of the twin cities compared to last year.

The official crime figures in the twin cities in the first five months this year showed an increase of around 12 per cent in comparison to last year. Between January and May last year, the total number of cases registered was 3,184 while it was 3,589 this year.

It was mostly the economic crimes that showed an increase as compared to last year’s (See chart). Economic crimes are theft, robbery, dacoity, burglary and swindling.

The introduction of beat patrolling in Bhubaneswar and community policing in the state seem to have had little impact, as the crime rate has gone up.

The twin city police have been in a fix following the rising crime rate in the past two months. On the night of June 5, armed dacoits robbed gold and diamond ornaments worth around Rs 2 crore from a jewellery shop located on Janpath during rush hours.

On the night of March 16, armed criminals fired at a police havildar when he tried to rescue a builder whom they were attacking.

They started attacking him when they failed to snatch a gold chain from the realtor’s wifeIn the past two days, gun-toting criminals killed a person in Barang while a trader was shot dead at Badambadi bus stand in Cuttack.

Thirty-six cases of murder have been reported during first five months this year. However, the police have not been able to crack many cases or arrest the accused. In most of these cases, criminals had used firearms.

The police commissioner said illegal guns were coming to the city from outside the state.

“We have been trying to control the flow of illegal arms into these cities, but lack of manpower has been affecting us,” he said.