Police statistics do not always present the actual number of crimes as most of them are not reported to the law enforcement agency by the victims.

At a recent conference, chaired by the inspector general of the police Punjab in Lahore, the participants expressed concern over the rising crime rate across the province, especially the low detection rate.

Statistics collected from the police in Rawalpindi also showed a dismal picture of the police working to check crime.

According to the police figures, valuables worth Rs650,063,266 (Rs650.06 million) were stolen between January and September compared to Rs579,223,636 (Rs579.22 million) valuables taken away by culprits during the corresponding period last year. The police could recover looted goods worth Rs205,055,210 (Rs205.05 million) so far this year.

A considerable increase was noticed in armed robberies and extortion as 728 such cases, including 128 cases of vehicle snatching, were reported this year compared to the 675 cases, including 68 vehicle-snatching incidents, during the same period in 2013.

Though senior police officers have expressed their concern over the unchecked vehicle theft and robberies and also made desperate efforts to activate the anti-vehicle lifting and anti-robbery wings, the outcome has not been productive.

The number of murders reached 231 compared to last year’s 258. Attempted murders also fell to 331 against last year’s 347. As many as 20 people were killed during robberies compared to the same number the previous year.

The deaths on roads in fatal accidents increased to 135 compared to 115 last year.

An increase was also noticed in kidnapping for ransom as nine cases were reported to the police compared to three during the corresponding period last year. However, kidnapping/abduction of women dropped to 332 against last year’s 352. As many as 43 cases of rape/gang rape were also reported to the police this year.

Burglary cases went up to 402 from 348 cases reported in the same period the previous year. However, theft cases dropped to 400 from 553.

Police also recorded a considerable increase in the motorcycle theft cases from 743 in the previous year to 1,077. However, car theft cases dropped to 646 compared to the previous year’s 840. The police could arrest a very few of the culprits and more than 630 cases of motorcycle theft were shelved and declared as ‘untraced’.

Theft of other vehicles fell to 146 in 2014 compared to 172 in the same period last year. The police crackdown against gambling dens remained discouraging as only 90 raids were carried out during the current year compared to 299 in 2013.

Satellite Town, Sadiqabad and Chaklala were hit by street crimes.

The residents said crime rate was increasing in their areas, especially in Chaklala and Satellite Town.

“I was standing at the balcony of my house when a motorcyclist appeared in the street and stopped near a car in which a woman living in the neighbourhood was sitting. The bandit snatched her purse at gunpoint and sped off,” he said. He said the robbery victim did not report the incident to the police as she thought it would be wastage of time.

A former police officer said such petty crimes were the basis of bigger crimes. If small crimes are effectively checked by the police, it could help them avert bigger crimes such as murders, bank robberies, houses break-ins etc.

A senior police officer attributed the rising crime to the lack of resources and failure of the police high command in boosting the morale of the force.

Since Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan belongs to Rawalpindi, all the limited resources of the local police are being used to handle the sit-ins in Islamabad, he added. He said the police also poor relations with the local media, adding none of the police officers was willing to be posted in Rawalpindi and that was why the post of the senior superintendent of police (operation) was lying vacant for several months.

Sectarian tension was also one of the major causes of the police failure to check crime as their focus remained on the sectarian issue.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2014