Karachi police formulate 'new strategy' to prevent street crime

KARACHI: Karachi police have formulated a new strategy to prevent the increasing number of street crimes in the metropolis in line with the instructions of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

The decision to deploy the force comes as the surging street crimes have caused troubles for Karachiites. Citizens of Karachi are encountering street crimes on the daily basis.

The police force is being deployed in different areas from police training centres, according to a notification issued by the Sindh police.

From the Shahid Hayat police training centre, 1,000 police personnel have been sent to the South zone and 900 have been sent to the West zone, the notification read.

From the Razaqabad police training centre, 1,200 police personnel have been sent to the East zone.

Police personnel will be deployed to the sensitive locations under the supervision of local stations and the troops will work in three shifts to prevent street crime, according to the notification.

The CM has ordered increased deployment on the roads according to which three zonal deputy-inspector generals (DIGs) have been directed to deploy the force, the notification said. 

'Crushing' terror outfits 

In its Apex Committee's 28th meeting — chaired by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah at the CM House in Karachi last week — the Sindh government decided to crush all kinds of threats including terror outfits, drug peddlers, street crimes, and dacoits in the slums through intelligence-based, well-coordinated, and targeted operations.

The high-level huddle also evaluated overall intelligence reports presented by the different security agencies. "The operation against the bandits must be decisive and cleansing once and for all," the CM said.

At the outset of the meeting, the issue of street crime came under discussion. IG Police Ghulam Nabi apprised the meeting that four different kinds of crimes such as motorbike snatching, car snatching, mobile snatching and robberies are constituting 'street crime.'

He said that 85,000 incidents of street crime occurred in the year 2022 which means that 7,000 were happening every month in the city. "If 7,000 incidents are divided in a month or with 30.5 days it would come to 229 cases per day."

The provincial police chief went on to say that 50% of the total street crime cases happened to be of bike snatching — which meant one street crime happened to be taking place in the port city every day. "During 2022 the police carried out 2,258 encounters, busted 1,259 gangs, arrested 16,621 dacoits/terrorists and killed 204," he added.

Showing a fact sheet about the release of repeated/habitual criminals, the IG said that 1,655 criminals who had already committed street crime at least thrice were arrested but they were bailed out within one week to six months of their arrest.

He added that eight criminals were released within one week, 26 within two weeks, 107 in one month, 470 in three months, 352 in six months, and 692 over six months.