RAWALPINDI, Oct 13: Personnel of the Special Branch will now use sniffer dogs to detect explosives carried in baggage or by suspects during checking at sensitive check posts, officials said on Monday.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Regional Police Officer (RPO) Nasir Khan Durrani at his office to devise a more effective security strategy.City Police Officer Rao Mohammad Iqbal, SP Rawal Town Khurram Shahzad, SP Investigation Rana Shahid and other senior police officials were also present on the occasion.

RPO Durrani also issued show cause notices to 18 station house officers (SHOs) in the Rawalpindi district for their poor performance.

CPO Iqbal gave a presentation on the crime situation in Rawalpindi, and also apprised the meeting of the department’s success stories.

A spokesman for the RPO said the crime situation between January 1 and September 30 was reviewed in the meeting. The meeting was told that during the period, 11,126 cases were registered as compared to 11,512 cases during the corresponding period last year.

Likewise, 215 cases of murder took place this year as compared to 183 in 2007.

However, there was a decrease in the number fatal accidents, as 99 cases were reported this year as compared to 117 last year.

Forty-seven incidents of dacoity and 316 cases of robberies took place during in 2008 as compared to 36 and 314 incidents, respectively, in 2007.

It was also observed that during the month of September, Rawalpindi experienced a surge in the crime rate, apparently because of increased number of incidents during Eid shopping.

The worst performing police stations were New Town, Saddar Bairooni, Wah Cantonment, Gujar Khan and Kahuta, where the crime situation was worst.

Immediate preventive measures were taken on the directives of RPO Durrani, and the police set up special checkpoints and arrested a large number of people whose charge sheets had been issued earlier.