Countrywide crime rate drops by slight margin of 1.16 percent

ISLAMABAD: Although the overall crime rate could not be controlled in the country, it dropped slightly by a margin of 1.16 percent, statistics submitted to the concerned authorities of the Ministry of Interior revealed.
The total figure of reported crimes against people and property was recorded at 627,116 cases of various kinds during the year 2014 as against 634,404 in 2013, the report says.
Street crimes remained stables with a slight decrease of 2.7 percent, and 114,763 cases of crimes against property were reported in 2014 against 117,912 in 2013. The same situation was recorded in crimes against persons, as 88,767 cases were reported in 2014 and 88,854 in 2013 with a minor decrease of .09 percent.
“Statistics claim one thing but our gut feelings another,” a police analyst said. Reports submitted to the authorities revealed some optimistic trends while the realities were quite different, he added.
“The police are not winning the fight against crime but crime is simply adapting to the changing contours of the police”, the police officer said. It is a widespread belief that less than 10 percent of street crimes are reported and the police mostly avoid registering even heinous crimes so as to maintain a low crime rate, he said.
The official crime statistics are often believed to be far less alarming than the reality. The statistics indicate that 411 people were kidnapped for ransom last year — 81 from the Punjab, 190 from Sindh, 96 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 33 from Balochistan, 10 from Islamabad and one on the railways. On the other hand, 18,700 people, mostly women, were kidnapped for other reasons.
Some 329 gang-rape cases were reported in the country, including 263 in Punjab, 35 in Sindh, 11 in KP, 17 in Islamabad and three in AJK, according to the annual crime figures. As many as 3,285 rape cases were reported — 2,734 in Punjab, 191 Sindh, 133 in KP, 19 in Balochistan, 162 in Islamabad, four in GB and 42 in AJK.
The report said that a total 13,276 people were murdered in the country during the year 2014 — 5,953 in Punjab, 3,252 in Sindh, 3,184 KPK, 615 Balochistan, 144 in Islamabad, four on railways land, 74 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 77 in AJK.
Overall, 132 people committed suicide for different reasons — 15 in the Punjab, 54 in Sindh, 51 in KP, one in Balochistan and 11 in GB, while 966 attempted to commit suicide.
No improvement in combating crimes against property was seen in the annual statistics as the offences of highway dacoities, bank lootings, burglaries and carjacking and snatchings continued as in 2013.
As many as 114,763 cases of crime against property were reported in 2014, including 87,933 in Punjab, 18,039 in Sindh, 3,237 in KP, 1,652 in Balochistan, 2,726 in Islamabad, 353 on railways land, 211 in GB and 552 in AJK.
The report mentioned that overall 33,243 vehicles were stolen or snatched over the last year — 21,072 from Punjab, 8,685 from Sindh, 1,090 fromKP, 913 from Balochistan, 1,300 from Islamabad, three from railways land, 52 from GB and 128 from AJK.
As many as 81,520 cases of highway dacoities-robberies, bank and petrol pump lootings, shoplifting, burglaries and thefts — 66,861 in Punjab, 9,354 in Sindh, 2,207 in KP, 739 in Balochistan, 1,426 in Islamabad, 350 on railways land, 159 in GB and 424 in AJK — were registered in 2014.
Overall, some 569 incidents of highway dacoities-robberies — 394 in Punjab, 147 Sindh, 13 in KP, eight in Balochistan, two in GB and five in AJK — were reported, the report said. It added, 76 banks — 25 in Punjab, 34 in Sindh, six in KP, nine in Balochistan and two in Islamabad — and 142 petrol stations — 111 in Punjab, 23 in Sindh, three in Balochistan, four in Islamabad and one in AJK — were looted during the last year.
As many as 20,836 incidents of armed dacoities-robberies were reported throughout the country, including 15,262 in Punjab, 4,549 in Sindh, 257 in KP, 249 in Balochistan, 429 in Islamabad, four from railways land, 23 in GB and 63 in AJK.
As many as 59,900 cases of burglaries-thefts (excluding carjackings) were reported in the country indicating that the police have failed to control such crimes, the reports said. Some 51,069 cases were registered in Punjab, 4,601 in Sindh, 1,931 in KP, 470 in Balochistan, 991 in Islamabad, 346 on railways land, 137 GB and 355 in AJK.
As many as 3,955 people were killed in road accidents last year, the report mentioned, adding that 2,085 persons were killed in Punjab, 542 in Sindh, 896 in KP, 166 in Balochistan, 101 in Islamabad, 32 in GB and 133 in AJK.
The Ministry of Interior, however, taking serious notice of the report, has asked the authorities responsible for combating crimes to make an effective strategy to provide protection to the life and property of the public, ministry sources said.