Whether it is due to the prevalent double-digit inflation or a policing failure, street crime in Punjab’s capital has catapulted in recent months, which has struck fear in the city’s residents.
While previously Lahore’s residents were only wary about moving about the city’s road at night, now they are not even safe during the day, as mobile phone and jewellery theft and purse snatching has become eerily common.
Moreover, the city’s residents feel that the Punjab Police is either devoid of solutions to curb the rising crime rate or simply does not care.
One such resident is Khawaja Zia-ur-Rehman, who was recently mugged while he was out grocery shopping. “I had just bought some fruit and was headed over to a friend’s house when a young man on a motorcycle stopped me and snatched my expensive phone from my hand,” recounted Rehman. “Despite immediately reporting the incident, the police have not cooperated and are not bothered about tracking the criminal.”
Another recent victim of street crime, Naheed Khalid, is well aware of the frustration that Rehman is going through because she was subjected to the same treatment by the police.
Khalid, whose purse was snatched by two men on a motorcycle in broad daylight while she was running errands, told The Express Tribune that the police did not care about making Lahore safe. “Every time we leave the house now, all we think about is how we might end up getting mugged.” Commenting on the upsurge in street crimes, Rana Shahid, a retired senior superintendent (SSP) of the Punjab Police, said that the crime rate was going up due to a number of reasons.
“It has become very easy to obtain illegal weapons in Punjab, which are then used to perpetrate crimes like mobile phone and purse snatching,” said Shahid, adding that criminals also find it easier to target people while riding a motorcycle because it is easier to escape.
When asked if the safe city cameras could not be used to trace the motorcycles, Shahid replied: “In my experience, the motorcycles used to commit the crimes are stolen. Even if they are not stolen, the cameras installed for the Punjab Safe City Project cannot trace the motorcycles because they do not have computerised number plates installed.”
The SSP, like many of the city’s residents that The Express Tribune spoke with, when asked about a solution for curbing the crime rate, said that an increase in manpower of the Punjab Police was a viable option. “Another option could be an increase in the number of officials deployed in the Dolphin Squad because ever since the squad was introduced in Lahore, the arrests of street criminals have gone up. However, for a city of Lahore’s size, the current manpower of the Dolphin Squad is not enough and that is why there has been no significant reduction in the crime rate,” opined Shahid while talking to The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2023.
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