The police and Rangers are out in full force trying to curb this problem in Karachi but with the ever-increasing population of the city and its metropolitan size, they are finding it difficult to control the violence. There are calls for Army to step in, but the Army are not trained and equipped to police civilian cities.
The first most important solution for reducing crime nationally is implementing strict crime laws for repeat offences. The national and provincial assemblies can make laws quickly to help save Karachi and the country from a worst situation in future and help reduce the crime rates and allow the police forces more time to work on more dangerous crimes.
The second and third tactics are used by the New York Police Force. New York City is a metropolitan sized city, the huge size and mixed population created many cultural and social differences, which resulted in lots of violence. The New York Police have used many techniques and found out that two of their techniques helped reduce crime rate by more then 80 percent – 20 percent more then the National average.
The New York Police have one Central Planning Centre, where all the crime committed in the city on the day is pinpointed on a map. This gives the New York Police the layout of where the most crime is committed in a city, so they can plan their patrols and movements the next day according to the previous day report. The New York Police researchers found out that when a certain crime, say a burglary, is committed in an area, then for the next few weeks, similar crimes will be committed in the same area, which will give rise to a number of more different crimes in those weeks. They figured out that criminals return to the area where they have had success once.
To counter this, the New York Police used a very simple approach, which brings us to our third important solution/tactic. The New York police use high number of police presence to deter the criminals. For areas found to have high crime rate, the New York Police would setup a contingency of police personnel there, who would do random stop and search checks and even make arrests for small misdemeanours. They would follow this tactic for a few weeks in one area and then move to the next crime area. They found out that with the “Three Strike Law” people would be so scared of being arrested that they would not do anything unlawful.
In Pakistan our police force and Rangers can follow a similar strategy for Karachi. Although they are trying their best but the violence has become so bad that I think the best strategy for the police and Rangers forces is to regroup, re-plan and then go out in force.
These three points have helped the US reduce their national crime rate by 60 percent and New York has reduced its crime rate by 80 percent. This reduction has helped the USA in the long run by reducing the number of criminals in the jails and by reducing the crime rate they have helped reduce the workload on the police. Similarly, these measures have now made the people feel more secure.
The government of Pakistan can use two decades of knowledge and experience of the New York Police in curbing the violence quickly in Karachi. Or they can continue their political rambling and allow the violence to continue, until it spreads across Pakistan.
SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar
