KARACHI, Dec 16: Since the division of police department into two separate wings - operation and investigation - its performance is on a constant decline, and people's miseries have multiplied manifold.

A survey conducted by Dawn shows that people are fed up with the newly- introduced two-wing system and they are now feeling it more difficult to approach police, in getting a case registered, and follow it to courts.

It was a common impression that the new police system would facilitate the process of lodging an FIR and related formalities concerning police department, people said, and pointed out that the situation had remained unchanged ever since the enforcement of the new system in February 2002 in Sindh.

They also pointed out that street robberies were on the rise and the police had failed to put a check on robbers. They apprehended that street robberies in broad daylight were impossible to take place without the connivance of police with criminals.

Snatching of mobile phones and cash had also become rampant and no one felt secure, they added. People were afraid of withdrawing cash from banks and travelling with it on streets.

Women are openly deprived of their jewellery at gunpoint in bazaars, shopping malls and even at their doorsteps. Many people have lost their lives while resisting robbers.

People are also fed up with house robberies and most of the houses in the city are seen fortified with iron bars. People do not care of a new or old police system, rather they want crime to be controlled.

The people arriving Karachi from abroad are deprived of their earnings and belongings upon landing in the city or reaching their homes. It is a known modus operandi of criminals that they chase the vehicles carrying such visitors and rob them at gunpoint before or after reaching their destination.

The police have never bothered to track down the criminals who would deprive a passenger of his belongings that he has earned after a long struggle abroad and brought it for his loved ones.

The menace of car jacking could not be controlled despite the formation of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell. Their performance on paper is 'splendid' but the ground reality is that 27 people on average are still deprived of their vehicles every day, according to the statistics of the ACLC. The recovery ratio is also shown as more than 50 per cent but scores of people are seen complaining that they did not get their stolen vehicles back.

Sources in the police department said that after the recovery of almost 500 stolen vehicles, including cars and jeeps, the ACLC had given them away on supardari to individuals of army, Rangers, police, politicians, and other influential on the pressure of the police hierarchy.

Many of the vehicles were handed over on fake papers of supardari without showing their recovery on papers. These vehicles were being used with fake registration numbers.

The sources said that if any of these vehicles were found hijacked or involved in accidents, case could not be registered on the ground that an already stolen vehicle could not be stolen again.

In police language, such a code word yeh hamari gari hai (this is our vehicle) is used, which means that FIR could not be registered for this incident. However, according to law, a vehicle could not be given on supardari to a person who is not the legal owner of that vehicle.

Despite the fact that the crime situation is dismal on ground, the police statistics claim a decline in robberies. According to the police statistics, a total of 31 cases of kidnapping for ransom were registered from January to October 2004.

Besides, the statistics show that 557 cases of kidnapping for abduction and 85 cases of child-lifting were also registered in various police stations of the city during the 10 months of this year.

The police statistics show that a total of 7,661 cases of robberies, dacoities and theft were reported which include car and motorcycle snatching incidents. The statistics showed that more than 25 cases of robberies, dacoities and theft were registered on average a day which means a person every hour was looted during the 10 months.

The statistics did not include the cases in which FIR was not registered and which ran in thousands. A senior police official said that during the past three months, there was a significant decline in the incidents of street robberies.

He proudly said that the police had done a good job despite the fact that most of the available police strength performed its duty to protect VIPs during their visits to the city and many of them had been deployed to protect ministers, former ministers, politicians, police officers, judges, foreign missions, etc.

He said that available strength of Karachi police was some 27,000 personnel. The strength had been divided equally into operation and investigation wings. He said the strength of operation wing was 13,500 personnel and more than 8,000 officials were always engaged for unsanctioned security duties, and a net of 5,500 personnel were left for crime prevention.

Apart from providing security to elites, the police had also been deployed at 2,223 mosques/imambargahs, 869 madressahs, 103 foreign missions, 31 food chains, 205 vital installations, 84 temples, 213 churches/hotels, 99 multinational companies and 277 petrol pumps.

A police official on condition of anonymity said that after the division of police department into two wings, more offices were established and the police personnel became engaged in administrative work rather than preventing crime.

Earlier, he said, a station house officer was the in-charge of a police station and after the new police system, an SHO was in-charge of operation wing and a station investigation officer (SIO) had been posted in addition to investigate cases after registration of FIRs.

The additional office at police station required staff, wireless operator, telephone operator and guards. Similar posts were created at all levels such as DSP investigation, SP investigation, and two DIGs investigation wing. As all needed staff, considerable police strength was utilized for administrative purposes.

Another police officer said the president's concept of devolution of power was not exercised in police department, rather all the powers were centralized. He said that before the introduction of the system, an SSP of a district could post an SHO of a police station but now the town police officer (TPO) did not have power to post an SHO.

All postings and transfers were being made on the directives of the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) or the DIG Operation. Even a TPO had been stripped of the powers to post a head muharrar (duty officer) at a police station.

Many police officials were of the view that police had been suffering from low morale over the past few years. They alleged that some corrupt police officials were given out of turn promotions and the deserving ones were still awaiting their due promotions.

At times, they claimed, high-ranking officers forced their subordinates to carry out unlawful work and if they declined, they were transferred. The low ranking police officials complained that they were forced to work at least 12 hours a day but they were not paid accordingly.

Their wages were not sufficient enough to bear their domestic expenditure. A police constable said: "How can a constable, who earns Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 a month, provide better education and health to his children? The police department do not give us house and those who are given police quarters, a rent is deducted from their salaries.

We are compelled to extort money from people as we cannot run our domestic expenses in our meagre salary." People from different walks of life, as well as police officials, said that the government could not yield desired results in improving law and order without providing better health, education, and accommodation facilities to low- ranking police officials and without raising their wages in accordance with inflation.