Police fail to stem street crime

LAHORE:

There is no let-up in robberies in the city despite increased police checkpoints, patrolling and arrests of suspected criminals.

Cases of robberies at homes and shops as well as on the roads are being reported continuously despite the claims of the police.

Citizens complain not only of being deprived of cash and valuables by the robbers but also of extortion at the checkpoints.

Three policemen were recently suspended for threatening a citizen at a checkpoint and taking Rs10,000 from him.

Lahore police say they have arrested 1,000 members of 392 gangs involved in robberies so far this year.

After the government eased the lockdown imposed amid the coronavirus pandemic and the citizens resumed going out of their homes and travelling in the city, robbers and thieves also appear to have started their criminal activities.

According to an estimate, over 30 incidents of theft and robbery are reported in the city daily, while sometimes there are more than 40 cases.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Hamza Dar, a resident of the provincial capital, said police had erected barriers at various points in the city it was not uncommon for citizens to lose their valuables in street crimes near such checkpoints.

Read Police swing into action to curb crime

On the night of July 1 in Valencia Town, a densely populated area, a boy was deprived of Rs10,000 by three policemen. The victim's relatives reached the police post immediately after the incident, recorded a video and shared it on social media. The policemen were asked to respond to the allegation of bribery but they were reluctant to reply. The alleged victim claimed in the video clip that the personnel had threatened to shoot him if he told his family about the incident.

Dozens of incidents of robbery in medical stores have also been reported in the past few months, where customers and employees were deprived of millions of rupees.

However, Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mehmood Dogar told The Express Tribune that the number of cases of theft in the city had dropped.

He said that after the lifting of the lockdown, when the citizens started coming out of their houses again, he directed all the SPs not only to set up roadblocks in their areas but also to ensure presence of Dolphin Force and Police Response Unit.

He said mobile squads deployed at e-police posts at the entrances of the city had checked 338,000 people and 157,000 cars entering the city during the past month.

During the checking, 263 people suspected of involvement in serious crimes were arrested, while stolen cars and motorcycles were also recovered.

Dogar said that Constable Mohammad Rafiq, Khurram Manzoor and Harris, the three policemen who took money from a citizen in Valencia Town, had been suspended in the light of Saddar SP Operation Hafeezur Rehman Bugti's initial inquiry report. Show cause notices have been issued to them.

He said the Lahore police wanted to give a sense of security to the citizens and remain ready at all times to help them.

In order to create a sense of security among the citizens, the Ababil Force has also been formed, which is seen patrolling different areas of the city in groups of more than a dozen motorcycles.

The CCPO said the police were striving to arrest the robbers involved in arious cases after identifying them through CCTV footage of the incidents and by tracing the escape routes of their vehicles with the help of Safe City Authority cameras.

Dogar said the suspects in a few incidents were yet to be arrested but efforts were continuing for the purpose.

DIG Investigation Shariq Jamal Khan said the police had busted 392 gangs of robbers during the ongoing year, arrested their more than 1,000 suspected members and recovered stolen items worth Rs395.4 million.

He said the evidence gathered from the crime scene is also matched with the data available in the record to identify the suspects.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2021.