Rawalpindi CPO calls for promoting community policing

Islamabad police show decline in recovery rate in theft and robbery cases

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD:  

The Rawalpindi City Police Officer Muhammad Faisal Rana has issued directions to promote community policing ideology.

Besides engaging the local community, coordination between police and other law enforcing agencies was also important for successful operations against law breakers, CPO Rana said during a meeting with field officers of Rawalpindi police.

The city police chief told officers to take action against criminals according to well-devised plans based on verified pieces of information to ensure success of each campaign.

“We must act with the might of the law on our side and by staying within the prescribed boundaries while executing operations against criminals,” he said.

CPO Rana said that as the protectors of society police must review and reorganise their policy to counter with the criminal gangs since they operate and strive breaking the law by thinking of new approaches. As much the gap lessens between public and the Police, the trust prevails in between and resultantly the Police department will get the community's support against criminals; hence the promotion of community policing ideology is essential.

The CPO Rawalpindi said: “It is my mission to ensure an intact and everlasting bond of trust between community and the police, for it will prove to be an effective helping hand for the police against criminals.”

He said the bond between the police and community will be a game changer for wellbeing and betterment for the society. The CPO said that the police must remain in contact with the law abiding facets of society to improve the ideology of community policing.

Islamabad police performance falls

The recovery rate of federal police in robbery cases have sharply declined in first six months of current year.

Police have been able to resolve and recover valuables in only 226 of 1,132 cases of theft, robbery, street crime, car and motorcycle theft and snatching which were registered in 22 police stations.

This recovery rate is one of the lowest in federal police history.

Well-placed sources in federal police told The Express Tribune that according to a comparative assessment of records with last year, there was a 15% decline in success rate in of recovery in theft and robbery cases during first six months of current year.

The sources said in 1995, the percentage of recovery of items was 30% which later increased to 37% during Musharraf’s tenure. The percentage remained stable till 2008 however the percentage dropped by 7% in 2013. The percentage of recovery rate in theft and robbery cases kept fluctuating between 2013 and 2018 and closed at 55% which was highest in last 25 years.

However, during first six months of current year, the percentage in such cases has dropped down to 20% which is the lowest since 1995.

In this regard, a senior police officer in federal police told the reason for this was disinterest of professional investigation officers in their duties and absence of any performance evaluation system. He said that it was inevitable to adopt a punish-reward system along with an active check and balance system.

However, when the spokesperson of Inspector General (IG) Islamabad, Inspector Khalid Awan, was asked about performance downturn, he claimed that even now, real percentage still stood at 50%. He said that more than 10 robber gangs which were under investigation were not included in the statistics.

Islamabad police arrested 21 suspects from various areas of the city and recovered hashish, methamphetamine and weapons from them, Awan said on Thursday.Following the directions of IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfqar Khan and DIG (Operations) Waqar Uddin Syed, all officials of Islamabad police have accelerated anti-crime efforts.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2019.