ISLAMABAD-Addition in funds and manpower, raising of new squads and pickets seemed not to be helping the local police in curbing crime in the city as it witnessed around 100 murders and scores of robbery incidents in the year 2019.
The crime continued to rise in the year despite the government had spent Rs13 billion on the Safe City Project to lay a web of surveillance cameras throughout the city. The basic objective of the project was to bring the city under surveillance so as to help trace the criminals especially the vehicle-lifters but the crime continued unabated.
The other steps also proved cosmetic as the police failed to bring down crime rate in the city, according to the official data.
New recruitments, massive transfers/postings, formation of different squads of the police could help the police little to none in curbing crime in the city.
The Islamabad police raised new patrolling forces; Eagle Squad and the bike-mounted Falcon Squad, but it did little to curb crime.
Interestingly, the erection of over 140 police pickets and snap checking helped the police little in checking crime; rather, it remained a source of nuisance for the road-users. Joint patrolling by police and Rangers also proved futile.
According to the crime statistics for the previous year, around 10,000 cases of crime of various natures were registered at the 22 police stations in the city.
This was 2,500 more than the 7,500 cases registered in year 2018 thus reflecting an overall increase in the crime.
At least 100 people were murdered in the capital during 2019 as compared to 106 incidents in 2018.
Furthermore, around 300 cases of attempt-to-murder were registered by the police in the outgoing year against 142 in 2018. The police also registered over 2,600 cases of robbery and mugging. Vehicle theft remained an issue in Islamabad during 2019.
The police record shows that some 800 vehicles were either stolen or snatched from residents of the capital city during the outgoing year. This included as many as 400 cars and an equal number of motorbikes.
As far as combing operation against suspects is concerned, the police confined its focus only to the slum areas. It totally ignored pre-emptive strike against the criminals.
The police however, recovered a large amount of narcotics and alcohol from the drug-peddlers. Though, none of them was linked to any major liquor racket.
On the other hand, the police continued to present a rosy picture when it comes to crime rate in the city. According the police officials, the crime rate registered a decline in the city in 2019 as compared to the year 2018.