ISLAMABAD: Thirty-five years after its establishment, the capital police have started organising profiles of wanted criminals for their first-ever Red Book.

“Now that we have created a Special Investigation Unit (SIU) we need to have details of wanted terrorists and hardened criminals to reach them and arrest them,” senior police officers told Dawn.

All police establishments in the country maintain the ubiquitous Red Book to snatch up habitual but elusive criminals of their precincts.

“So far we have collected information about 2,000 criminals and accused persons who had been taken to courts twice or more times to face charges of terrorism, kidnapping for ransom, robbery, burglary or stealing vehicles,” said a member of the SIU’s Crime Record Office.

SP Investigation retired Capt Mohammad Ilyas is supervising the work on the Red Book.

The newly-created investigation unit will handle such cases and make arrests

“It will carry the identification details of habitual criminals, such as their photograph, CNIC number and known address. One-time criminal is not considered habitual or professional criminal and wont figure in the Red Book,” said the police sources.

“There is always the possibility that a complainant, or the police, implicate someone innocent in a criminal case out of vested interest,” they explained.

Unlike other law enforcement agencies, the capital police will not keep their data on criminals secret but will put it on a website. The idea is to get community’s help in reaching the bad elements.

Police have the powers to arrest elusive criminals and accused persons under Section 55 (arrest of vagabonds, habitual robbers etc) and Section 110 (habitual offenders bound by police to keep good behavior) of CrPC. If they are hiding in communities, people can report their presence with the help of their profiles made public by the police.

Islamabad police officials promise the website is being designed and their Red Book will be loaded on it within a few weeks.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2015

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