Sindh police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon has shown reservations over the rising crime rate in Karachi, and especially over the slow progress of the investigation branch, which has failed to deliver. He directed the district SSPs and investigation SPs to expedite their work and submit their reports to his office on a monthly basis.
Moreover, the Sindh police have submitted their daily combing operations report to the provincial chief minister’s office, mentioning that during the last 24 hours, 148 street crime incidents occurred in the jurisdiction of 108 police stations, while the police arrested 199 suspects.
Officials said that IGP Memon recently held a meeting with his subordinates at the Central Police Office over the city’s crime situation. The meeting was attended by senior police officers of all the departments.
They said that all the officials presented their progress reports, which were unsatisfactory, especially on the investigation side, so the IGP questioned that if they were working so efficiently, why criminals were getting bail from the court. He ordered a crackdown on the absconders and proclaimed offenders.
He ordered that street crime cases will be investigated by various police units, including the Sindh Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Karachi Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA), saying that in case of arrest of street criminals and recovery of weapons from them, the CTD will conduct the investigation.
He also ordered the investigation additional IGP to review and revise the list of street criminals for a thorough and systematic crackdown against them, and for bringing those declared absconders and proclaimed offenders to book under a foolproof strategy.
He said the performance of all officers, especially district SSPs and investigation SPs, will be reviewed on a monthly basis, and they will not be posted on the next important post if their report reveals poor investigation. He added that identification parade of the arrested suspects should be made a part of routine, while regular records should be set by digitising the investigation form.
Officials said the IGP ordered the Special Branch to strengthen measures such as surveillance in their areas, and to send intelligence reports to the district police officers and offices on a daily basis.
He stressed that operational and investigational matters should be made more stringent and better. “After a week, I will not only review the performance of the operation and investigation police but also give further orders.”
The Karachi Range DIGs presented a comparative assessment of police performance against street crime during the years 2021 and 2022, reiterating their commitment to further improve police performance this year.
Officials said that in pursuance of the CM’s directives to increase police deployment and visibility to control street crime, the IGP has directed using all available police force to deploying them on the streets, especially in the hotspots, to avert street crime incidents.
The IGP ordered using the maximum police strength of the respective ranges and deploying them smartly, keeping in view the hotspots and the peak hours to control street crime. In this connection, he allocated more strength from the training centres to reinforce the district police.
Officials said that 1,000 and 900 trainees from the Shahid Hayat Police Training College (SHPTC), Saeedabad, were allocated to the South Range and the West Range respectively, while 1,200 from the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Elite Police Training Centre, Razzakabad, to the East Range.
The IGP said the range DIGs will collect the above trainees from the training centres and will be responsible to arrange their accommodation and mess, keeping in view the weather condition, while they should be deployed with the police station staff in three shifts.
Karachi police chief Javed Alam Odho also submitted the daily report to the CM’s office. The report said that 59 mobile phone and cash snatching incidents were reported, as well as four car thefts, 11 motorbike snatching incidents and 74 motorbike thefts.
Forty-six incidents occurred in District East, 28 in District Central, 22 in District Korangi, 14 in District West, 12 each in the South and Keamari districts, nine in District Malir and five in District City. Street criminals injured three people during the incidents.
The injured were identified as Javed, son of Niaz, in the SITE Super Highway police jurisdiction (District East), Jameel, son of Abdul Aziz, in the Shah Faisal Colony police jurisdiction (District Korangi), and Rozi Khan, son of Sher Muhammad, in the SITE-B police jurisdiction (District Keamari).
Crime prevention
The CM was told that the police conducted seven encounters with street criminals and robbers, and arrested 10 suspects in an injured condition as well as eight others red-handed.
The police conducted four raids and search operations in the East, Central and West districts, and arrested 199 suspects, including 22 street criminals and robbers, 14 vehicle lifters, one extortionist, 28 possessing illegal weapons, 21 drug peddlers and suppliers, and 113 others.
Addl IGP Odho said in his report that 31 illegal pistols, 21 kilograms of hashish, 19 snatched mobile phones, 30 stolen vehicles, a car and 29 motorbikes were recovered. The CM directed the city police to continue combing operations and bring the streets under control.