Ineffective policing? Delaying tactics used to show low crime rate

Annual police report in Taxila claims unjustified successes.

TAXILA: The local police claim to have brought down the annual crime rate in 2015 by 11 per cent compared to the year before in their annual report. However, this seems to be a manipulation of data, as facts on the ground suggest otherwise.

As per official data, Taxila jurisdiction comprises of three different police stations and seven different check posts.

The official crime statistics are often far less alarming than reality – despite rampant incidents of thefts, burglaries, robberies and kidnappings. According to the data, 1,482 cases were registered during 2015, compared to 1,666 in 2014. Police sources claim that officials have been told by high-ups to adopt delaying tactics in registering FIRs to suggest that the crime rate has remained unaffected despite the increase in population in both Taxila and Wah.

Further, police data does not record kidnapping and rape cases, though unofficial accounts suggest that a number of teenage girls and women were abducted during the year.

“The police are not winning the fight against crime, but crime is simply adapting to the changing contours of the police”, said a source. Sources claim that less than 10 per cent of street crimes are reported, while police often avoid registering crimes, some even heinous, to maintain a low crime rate.

People of the area bemoan that the police merely lodge their complaints in the register, and do not file an FIR later. At times, the subject of the FIR is also said to be changed.

Sources also claim that the police force has turned a blind eye toward the gambling, liquor and prostitution rings operating in the area. The dens, which are located in low rent areas such as Nawababad, Ahmed Nagar,and Chachi Mohallah, remain unchecked.

Despite massive incentives of increased salaries, funds, and the provision of facilities to the police by the provincial government, such issues prevail.

The policy of showing a decline in the crime rate is usually employed by the police, as unfortunately, police performance can only be gauged through the number of FIRs registered.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2016.