Coimbatore: The West Zone, comprising eight police districts in Coimbatore, was successful in reducing the crime rate and increasing the detection rate during the current year.

As against 2,397 cases of murder, riots, rape and POCSO Act registered last year, the numbers went down to 2,283 this year due to high vigilance by the police department, an official statement said on Monday.

So far,  197 murder and attempt to murder cases were registered, while only 14 were reported for sexual abuse, it said. And 337 cases of atrocities against women were registered and 173 cases under POCSO. As against the 134 riot cases last year, only 100 had been registered so far. As far as hurt cases were concerned,  it was 1,892 as against 1,992 .

A total of 73 persons were detained under Goondas Act. As many as  23,668 CCTV cameras were installed across eight districts, with Erode topping with 8,702. On the special and local laws front, the department  registered 668 cases under Lottery Act, 15,464 under Prohibition Act, 445 under Gambling Act and 97 under NDPS Act. A total of 262 cases were booked for sand smuggling as against 194 last year, the statement added.