Control crime or face action, DIG West warns SHOs

Karachi

The DIG West said on Tuesday that following the chief minister’s directives a day earlier on curbing street crimes and “short-term” kidnappings for ransom, he had held a meeting with his subordinates and warned SHOs that they would be suspended if they failed to deliver in this connection.

Besides, DIG Feroze Shah added, security measures for educational institutions were also discussed at the meeting.

“Basically the reason for the increase in street crimes and short-term kidnappings is that criminal gangs, which earlier killed people for money, have now resorted to muggings and kidnappings after their networks were dismantled by police,” the official told The News.

The DIG said the footage in possession of the investigation branch was not taken seriously and sketches of suspects were not prepared. “We have started working on it so that the culprits can be caught,” he added.

The official said SHOs had been directed to develop lists of hardcore criminals including the proclaimed offenders and absconders as they were a major factor behind the increase in street crimes and short-term kidnappings.

He added that SHOs had been warned that they would be suspended and also be subjected to a departmental inquiry if they were unable to curb these crimes.

At the meeting, which was also attended by the SPs of the West and Central districts, it was decided that a focal person - a DSP of the sub-division – would be appointed to check if schools and other educational institutions were following the guidelines in a standard operating procedure issued by police including increasing the height of walls, deploying security guards and installing CCTV cameras.

The focal person will meet with the administrations of schools and colleges and collect the details of the employees there to check the possibility of their involvement in religious extremism as it was seen earlier that the Bacha Khan University attack was an inside job.

Shah said he had also ordered the formation of security clusters outside educational institutions that conducted patrolling on a daily basis from 7am till 3pm.  There are two clusters in the Central district and three in West.

The patrolling process of police officials and their presence on roads shall be supervised by sub divisional police officers.

The DIG West said the overall crime rate in his range was under control. So far this year, no target killing had been reported the West Range. A policeman was killed this year in the range but this number stood at seven last year.

No murders during robberies were reported in the West Range. However three extortion cases were reported of which two were solved by police. This figure stood at eight last year.

The official said this year, the West Range police had arrested four target killers, 80 murderers, six extortionists, 57 robbers, three terrorists of banned outfits and three criminals were killed in encounters. They also arrested 170 absconders and 15 proclaimed offenders.

At a cabinet meeting held a day earlier, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had expressed serious concerns over the increase in street crimes and “short-term” kidnapping in Karachi and other parts of the province and directed law-enforcement agencies to take steps to overcome these cases.  He had also ordered more security for educational institutions.