Vehicle theft: CCPO opens control room

LAHORE: A control room for the Anti-Vehicle Lifting Staff was inaugurated at police headquarters in Gulberg by Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Amin Wains on Thursday.

Briefing the CCPO, SP Awais Malik said the control room had six desks. He said one desk dealt with data from the police helpline. “It automatically updates details of stolen vehicles from calls made on 15.”

He said another desk maintained an archive of FIRs related to vehicle theft.

He said a third desk maintained record of actions taken by investigation officers on various FIRs.

“The fourth desk has data of recovered vehicles,” the SP said.

He said the fifth desk maintained an extensive record of 5 million vehicles stolen from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and other parts of the country.

“It has details of registration plates, chaise numbers, engine numbers, colours, models and other specifications,” he said.

He said the sixth desk was connected to the Excise and Taxation Department.

The SP said records of the Excise and Taxation Department had been made accessible to the AVLS through the desk.

“Earlier, we had to physically go to the excise and taxation office to share case details,” he said.

The SP told the CCPO that they were working on building software in collaboration with the Punjab Information and Technology Board to connect the control room with the Punjab Forensic Science Agency. He said forensic examination of the vehicle would be a valuable assistance to investigation efforts.

CCPO Amin Wains appreciated efforts of the AVLS. He said establishment of the squad six months ago had drastically reduced vehicle theft. He said that establishment of a centralised computerised control room of the AVLS would boost its performance.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2016.