Safe City project not under police control, says SSP

IGP directs police officials to accelerate investigations into missing person cases

ISLAMABAD: Two years after the Rs13 billion Safe City project was set up across the federal capital to keep an eye on its streets and to make it “free of crime”, a senior police official has made the startling claim that the project is not under the control of the city’s police force.

This was claimed by Operations Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Waqaruddin on Friday. Talking to Daily Express on rising incidents of crime in the city, SSP Din stated that the project is still being headed by an official of the National Database Regulatory Authority (Nadra).

The Safe City project, which saw some 1,900 closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) installed across the federal capital, had been inaugurated by the then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in June 2016. The project had been executed by NADRA and implemented a number of features and technologies simultaneously introduced such as the smart identity cards, electronic radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, smart vehicle registration cards, centralised databases and intelligent video surveillance.

A number of police officers had also worked on setting up the project which is headquartered in Sector H-11.

Since its introduction, police claims the project has helped trace, if not outright solve, over 1,000 cases. The Islamabad Traffic Police also stream a live feed from the project’s cameras on its Facebook page which is quite popular amongst social media users.

But in recent months, a number of its cameras have stopped working, hampering the police’s ability to solve some crimes with at least 300 of its cameras in disrepair, officials had disclosed.

Rising crime

The corresponding period has also seen a spike in criminal activity in the city with organised gangs committing crimes with a dozen incidents of car lifting, mugging at gunpoint and burglary reported in recent days.

SSP Din conceded the uptick in criminal activity in the provincial capital. He added that they were working on a number of reforms and that people will soon see a clear and positive change in the police’s behaviour towards the public and in cracking down on crime.

Addressing the issue of first information reports (FIRs) which were not registered by station house officers, Din said that every citizen, who has been a victim of any crime, has the right to go to the relevant police station and register a case. He added that if the SHO of any police station does not register the FIR in time, then action will be taken against them.

Trace missing persons

The Inspector General of Islamabad Police (IGP) Aamir Zulfiqar has directed all police officials to accelerate their efforts in investigating cases of missing persons which are being heard by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Zulfiqar issued directions in a meeting held to review the performance of various police wings on Friday. The IGP directed to improve the quality of investigation and to make renewed efforts to curb crime.

To enhance investigations, IGP Zulfiqar directed officials to make use of technology so that cases of people who are missing can be solved faster.

The police chief further directed to improve the traffic flow in the city by introducing an effective traffic system for the convenience of road users.



Officials were further directed to maintain strict patrolling and vigilance in the city apart from launching a special crackdown against criminal elements, including absconders.

While reviewing the performance of the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA) and Investigation Wing of capital police, Zulfiqar directed them further improve their performance. WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2018.