No let up in Lahore’s crime rate

LAHORE: The Punjab police have failed to control crime in the provincial capital as proven by figures of 2019 in comparison with those of 2018, Pakistan Today learnt reliably on Monday.

A well-placed and credible source in the city police office (CPO) shared with this scribe a list of figures of heinous crimes recorded over the past five years whereas according to the list, murders, kidnapping for ransom, dacoity/robbery with murder, robbery and gang rape cases are almost the same as those in the past year, 2018.

However, the comparative list states, “The registered cases of murder in 2018 were 493 and in 2019 (up to October) the registered cases are 366. Similarly, the cases of kidnapping for ransom in 2018 were 13 and this year these cases have a digit of 12. The cases of robbery with murder in 2018 were 28 however this year these registered cases are only 7. The registered robbery cases in 2018 were 3,704 and in 2019 the registered cases are 3405. The cases of gang rape in 2018 were 13 and this year there are 8”.

The source also revealed that the CPO is currently preparing a list of the total figures of heinous crimes in the city, “We have only the record of figures till Oct 2019. Despite the transfer postings and reshuffling of police officers from one city to other cities, the police department has failed to control the crime rate in Lahore.  Incidents of thefts, land grabbing, car snatching, gambling are increasing in the areas day by day and police are playing the role of silent spectators.”

While speaking to Pakistan Today, Additional Inspector General (Operations) Inam Ghani said, “The Punjab police is working on re-registering policy of cases. The department has given the instructions to all police officers in Punjab to register all the cases. The PM portal, CM Portal, IGP complaint portal are also working on it”.

“Previously the people have to go to the courts for the registration of their cases but for the last four months we have improved the things and all the people are facilitating in the police stations. This could be the main reason for the steep figures. We are also working very hard to facilitate the public and surely these figures will come down very soon,” he concluded.