‘Novel’ methods: Police burst tyres of unattended vehicles to keep car lifters at bay

People express concern, say police refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

ABBOTABAD:

Tired of being rebuked for its inability to prevent vehicle thefts, the Abbottabad police have come up with a novel method to prevent the crime. The rationale for the method is simple: if the vehicle cannot move, it cannot be stolen.

Under the new, unofficial method, police officials patrol the city streets at night and burst the tyres of any vehicle that they feel may fall prey to car lifters. Usually vehicles found parked in the open and unattended fit the criteria, but at times even parked vehicles under the supervision of security guards become the sources of their ire.

Dozens of owners of motorcars, passenger vans, pickups and trucks, who have undergone the difficulties and paid the cost of repairing their vehicles’ tyres, have expressed concern over the unorthodox method opted by the police.

They complained that their vehicles are targeted by the police even when they are watched over by security guards and are parked in parking lots of different shopping plazas and markets along Mandiyan and Murree roads and city areas such as Nawanshehr.

Yasin Khan, who lives in a house along Murree Road, said he had to take his ailing father to a hospital in Islamabad early in the morning but he could not because all four tyres of his car had been punctured by police officials during the night. When he asked the local guard, who he pays Rs20 to watch over the vehicle during the night, he told him that he tried to tell the police that he is watching over the vehicle but they did not listen and burst the tyres of the car with a sharp object.



Naveed Abbasi, a Suzuki pick owner whose vehicle was meted the same treatment, said if he has hired a person to watch over his vehicle, then the police have no right to take matters in their own hands and damage his vehicle in the process. “This is illogical,” he said, adding that efficiency of the Abbottabad police can be gauged by the growing number of car thefts in the city.

Another Suzuki pick owner, Syed Nazim Shah, said he was supposed to take a group of passengers to the airport and their flight got delayed because it took him time to get the tyres of his vehicle repaired.

Residents said they have lodged several complaints with the local police station against the practice but the police refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

When contacted, Station House Officer (SHO) Nawanshehr gave a similar response and denied that policemen puncture tyres of parked vehicles at night to prevent thefts.

However, another SHO, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that patrolling police teams often puncture the tyres of vehicles in an area where car lifting gangs are said to be active. “People often leave their vehicles unguarded on the roadside, but in case of property loss they accuse the police of inefficiency,” he added.

When asked why vehicles watched over by security guards are also targeted, the SHO reasoned that leaving vehicles at the mercy of watchmen in the open is “unsafe” because in a majority of cases the watchmen are found to be involved in the thefts.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2013.