Police draw IGP’s ire for downplaying crime rate

Rawalpindi police found guilty of not registering cases to manipulate statistics

RAWALPINDI:

An intelligence report furnished on the orders of the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Muhammad Usman Anwar has laid bare the alleged modus operandi of the Rawalpindi police to deal with the rising street and other crimes by not registering cases to create an artificial sense of security.

According to sources, around 2,200 cases were registered by the department in a single day after the practice came under the notice of the top official.

The sources said the police did not register cases of reported crimes and allegedly misled the IGP that the overall security situation was under control in the district. However, when the top official sought to verify the reports, it surfaced that the police officials were purposefully not registering cases of mobile phone snatching, robbery, theft, and other crimes.

The IGP took strict notice of this after which the police set a new record of registering 2,200 cases on a single night, the sources added.

The sources said that the IGP has given a clear message that negligence will not be tolerated on the issue of non-registration of FIRs.

If the police do not immediately register the case of any crime reported by citizens in any police station, strict action will be taken, the top official was quoted as saying.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2023.