Hyderabad: About 87.7 per cent of arrested persons in Telangana last year had their first brush with the police, data by the NCRB said.
The police arrested 1,27,300 persons across the state for various crimes. Of them, 1,11,658 were first-timers. “First-timers are non-professionals who get involved in crime due to circumstances. It could be a murder out of vengeance, street brawl, rioting or even property disputes,” said a senior police official who works in the detective department.
First-timers are involved in ‘casual crimes’ which do not require a detailed planning. “The number of first timers is high and a small percentage of them beco-mes habitual offenders,” he noted.
“Organised criminals belonging to property syndicate or habitual rowdies fall in the category of repeated offenders. There are instances when the property offenders were arrested three times in the same year,” said the official.
When it comes to juveniles, 2,810 were arrested in 2016 of which 2,711 were first-timers.
“They come into contact with habitual offenders in prisons. When they come out they form gangs and commit crimes,” Mr Surender Goud, inspector Keesara, said.
