As police funding increases, so does crime

Comparative figures suggest no improvements

LAHORE: Billions of rupees have been pumped into the provincial police budget, but the rate of crime shows no signs of decreasing, reveals data available with The Express Tribune.

When compared to 2015, extortion cases have increased by a whopping 43% as have car snatchings and kidnappings, which are up 29% and 13%, respectively, in the first 11 months of 2016.



As many as 21,363 incidents, including murder, robbery-murder, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, robbery, dacoity, car and bike snatching as well as street crime have been registered up to November 26. In 2015, a total of 24,079 such incidents were reported up till the end of the year.



Seeing the surge in criminal activities over the last few weeks, it is expected that the total number of such acts will surpass that of 2016.

Senior police officials, instead of going after the criminals, are blatantly denying the increase in crime. They claim that the incidents are relatively few for a city the size of Lahore.

Earlier, the Lahore police claimed it lacked the resources, technology and training to combat crime. However, the government has stepped up to the plate and equipped two new entities, the Dolphin Force and Police Response Unit, with the latest gadgetry and technology.

In addition, fully automated command and control centers have been established at the DIG and SP offices for the real-time monitoring of investigations and operations.

However, official data indicates no reduction in crimes. It shows that at least 208 cases of extortion were reported between January 01, 2016 and November 26, 2016, while 145 cases of the same nature were registered through the 12 months of 2015.

Similarly, as many as 1,137 cases of kidnapping were reported in the 11 months of the current year, while that number was 1,008 cases for the whole of 2015. The data shows that kidnapping for ransom continued in the provincial capital as some 13 cases were registered in 2016. There was a sharp increase in car snatching which saw a rise of 29% in 2016. In 2015, 41 such incidents were registered as compared to 53 registered up till November 26, 2016.



Incidents of murder also saw no decline as 507 cases have been registered in 2016, thus far. Last year, the 502 such incidents were reported over the course of the 12 months. In 2015, 12 cases of murder-robbery were registered compared to eight over the first 11 months of this year.

In 2015, there were 97 unsolved murders and such incidents have already jumped to 96 in 2016. There were 732 cases of attempted murder reported in 2015 and 709 in 2016.

Cases of burglary/theft (380 of PPC) also increased during 2016 when 7,556 cases were registered, whereas 7,557 of these incidents were reported in 2015.

In 2016, 74 cases of dacoity, defined locally as a robbery committed by more than five people, have been reported compared to 107 for 2015.

Last year, 4,505 cases of robbery were registered, while 3,363 such acts have been committed in 2016, thus far. There were 1,276 cases of car theft in 2015 compared to 838 in 2016.



Also, 457 incidents of bike snatching were reported in 2016 compared to 380 this year. In 2015, 6,452 cases of bike lifting were reported as compared to 5,450 in 2016. A total of 63 other vehicles were snatched and 470 were lifted, while the corresponding figures were 53 and 425 in 2016.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2016.