RAWALPINDI, July 11: About 5,740 cases of various crimes have been registered with the district police in the first six months of the current year, statistics collected from the police department show.

Valuables worth Rs89,551,370 were stolen during this period, out of which goods valued at Rs29,521,880 were recovered. This shows a drop from last year’s 55 per cent to 33 per cent in the recovery rate of the police.

About 355 cases of vehicle theft have been registered with the police in the six months as compared to 274 during the corresponding period last year.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rawalpindi Moravat Shah was of the view that the sharp rise in the crime rate was due to the influx of Afghan nationals. He hoped that the crime rate would fall since the Afghans had started leaving for their home country.

Commenting on the rise in vehicle theft incidents, he said the police had traced two gang of car thieves in the NWFP and the Azad Kashmir.

“We are in contact with the NWFP and AJK governments to seek their cooperation in tracking down the thieves and recover the vehicles stolen from Rawalpindi district,” the SSP said.

According to statistics, 150 cases of dacoity/robbery have been registered in the first six months of the current year compared to 142 cases in the corresponding period last year. Similarly, 305 theft cases were reported in the first six months as compared to 275 the same period last year.

People were of the view that the police had failed to check crime and arrest culprits. The city was in a state of shock over the killing of two policemen near the Holy Family Hospital by a gang of scavengers, a resident of Satellite Town, Aftab Ahmed, said.

“When policemen cannot protect themselves, how can they protect us,” he added.

Mohammad Azhar of Chaklala Housing Scheme expressed his concern over the increase in the incidents of car-lifting. He appealed to the interior minister and senior police officials of Rawalpindi to take effective measures to bring down the rate of car theft.

The statistics further showed that there had been a decrease in cases of burglary and murder. About 290 incidents of burglary and 105 murder cases were reported to the police in the first six months of the current year compared to 310 burglary incidents and 111 murder cases during the corresponding period last year.

The police claim that due to the effective measures taken by the police, there has been a considerable decline in gambling. The 46 cases had been registered under Gambling Act during the first six months of the year, while 90 cases were registered during the same period last year.

Similarly, 76 fatal and 161 non-fatal accidents were reported in the first six months compared to 78 fatal and 165 non-fatal accidents same period last year.

The statistics show that 96 cases of kidnapping/abduction were registered with the police in the first six months while 110 were reported in the correspondent period last year.

A retired police officer said the payscale of the police should be enhanced if the government wanted them to perform well. He was of the view that nepotism in appointment of police officers, especially SHOs, should be discouraged to check crime.