Plan to install 2,000 security cameras being finalized
KARACHI, April 22: The newly appointed police administration has started preparing for the much-awaited strike against street crimes, which includes a proposal for installing more than 2,000 security cameras across the city.
The police hierarchy is likely to take up business formally on Wednesday, when top cops will visit the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) for an insight into the crime trend mainly in Karachi and discuss the strategy with the support of the community.
“IG Sindh Shoaib Suddle, along with senior members of the city police including newly-posted DIGs of three zones, will hold a meeting with the CPLC chief and other members,” said a source privy to the scheduled meeting.
“The CPLC has proposed several measures to control the rising street crime trend witnessed during the last two years, which are likely to be taken up in the meeting. Instead of discussing transfers and postings of officers to launch a crackdown against gangsters, the meeting will go through proposals for administrative and strategic changes in the whole system.”
Sources in the Sindh police, however, said the department had already discussed several issues to fight the much-publicized street crimes and it included measures suggested to the previous provincial administration, which did not take those into account while designing a plan to combat crime.
“One of the proposals, which has been under consideration for the last few weeks, is installation of security cameras in sensitive points of different areas of the city,” said a police source. “It was suggested by the CPLC and may also come under discussion tomorrow (Wednesday) during the presentation by the officials concerned. The committee has also pinpointed areas with high crime rates, which would be focused on in the future.”
After analysis, the CPLC has marked areas covered by more than a dozen police stations, where the street crime rate is abnormally high and such spots have been termed ‘highly volatile,’ added the source.
“These areas include Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Landhi, Korangi, Aziz Bhatti, Taimuria, New Karachi, Nazimabad, Site, Clifton, Defence, Ferozabad, Kharadar, Preedy, Liaquatabad and Gulistan-i-Jauhar,” he said.
Sources said surveillance in such areas would not be an easy task for the police under the new administration, as the tentacles of the gangsters had reached influential groups, which had strengthened them during the last few years.
“There is a proposal to install cameras in these areas and monitor them through a central command system. There is also a strong feeling among the police authorities that the Muhafiz Force and Police Helpline 15 service should be merged for an effective and centralized approach towards handling complaints,” he added.
Tech-savvy criminals
The rising use of technology in criminal activities and the comparative lack of it on the law enforcement agencies’ front had also come as a major blow in the fight against street crime, said the source. The police and CPLC had been considering steps to check the use of such facilities with the criminals and the role of the institutions concerned in this regard would be instrumental, he said.
“There is a need to streamline the sale of cellphone connections and in this case the role of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is critical, which should restrict cellular companies in this regard. The maintenance of records of all cellphone users is on the agenda of the CPLC-police meeting,” added the source.
Meanwhile, CPLC chairman Sharfuddin Memon confirmed the meeting with the police high-ups and said it would present the real picture of crime in the province and mainly in the city with statistics.
“We expect a change in such trend with the appointment of competent officers in the police hierarchy,” he said. “At the CPLC, we welcome the appointment of Shoaib Suddle, who introduced reforms in 1998 for FIR registration and made the process much easier and complainant-friendly.”
He said reforms are likely to continue and gradually they would result in a decline in the street crime rate in the city.
However, despite the authorities’ plan to curb street crimes and increase the citizens’ confidence in the police, a record number of vehicles and cellular phones were taken away in different parts of the city during last month.
Figures compiled by the police show that 5,199 mobile phones, 1,490 motorcycles and 635 automobiles were taken away in March. These figures show about a 36 per cent rise in bike robberies, an 18 per cent increase in carjacking and a nine per cent increase in cellular phone thefts.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/23/2008
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