Sindh Police’s Community Police Centres (CPCs) – an effort of former inspector general of police (IGP) Wajid Durrani for creating close liaison between law enforcers and locals to curb street crimes – are being used by drug peddlers, other criminals and scavengers.
The current IGP had announced that the CPCs would be replaced with Madadgar 15 centres, but he has also failed to materialise his plan.
The CPCs, established with millions of rupees of locals’ funds, were witnessed being used by drug peddlers and other criminal groups for monitoring their targets in the night-time, while scavengers use these centres for storing the garbage they collect.
While there are some CPCs where the police department has supplied office furniture, these centres are void of any staff.
Former IGP had announced establishing 495 CPCs with the cooperation of locals of some areas to introduce community policing.
At least 160 CPCs were established in Karachi, and only 10 of them are functional, whereas others have become drug dens and safe havens for criminal groups.
It was decided that at each CPC, a police officer of at least the rank of sub-inspector would be deputed as the community police officer (CPO), who would operate in close liaison with the police stations in its precinct.
Former IGP had directed the police department to ensure radio-equipped patrol cars and motorcycles at each CPC for routine patrol and rapid response.
However, these plans could not be turned into reality, even during the tenure of the former IGP, whereas the current IGP has decided to replace these CPCs with Madadgar 15 centres, but his plan is also yet to materialise.
According to the plans of the Madadgar 15 project, “In the first phase, help centres would be established in Karachi, and later, the project would be extended to other parts of the province. In Karachi, the centres would be established at Brooks Chowrangi, Tariq Road, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gul Ahmed Textile Mills, Gadap, Saddar Dawakhana, Lyari, Defence, Seaview Police Post, Lalazar Police Post, SITE Area, Aisha Manzil, Hyderi Market, North Karachi Industrial Area and Nazimabad.”
The current IGP had assured that each centre would be provided with a police mobile, two motorcycles and 50 police personnel.
Operations Additional IGP Amir Farooqui said that the CPC project had failed due to lack of manpower and resources.
“If you want CPCs in Karachi, then you have to increase the manpower in the police department. The existing manpower cannot run the CPCs,” said Farooqui.
Another reason behind the CPC project’s failure, he added, is the deteriorating law and order situation of the city.
He said, “The police department has now planned to replace these CPCs with Madadgar 15 centres for introducing community policing in the metropolitan, and within a few days, you will see these new CPCs become functional.”
East Senior Superintendent of Police Javed Alam Odho said that when the new IGP took over, the policies of the police department were changed.
“The new IGP wants to see these CPCs become active in the shape of Madadgar 15 centres, and these centres will start functioning in a few days after provision of vehicles,” said Odho.
He said that the CPC project was established to help locals work in close liaison with the law enforcers, but to engage the police personnel to run these centres is not possible.
“Division of manpower can affect the working of the police department, as there is already limited manpower available to the police,” he added.
South Deputy IGP Shaukat Commander said that the police department had planned establishing 48 CPCs in his zone, but only 24 CPCs could be established, and he claimed that all of them are functional.
He said that an application for establishing more CPCs has been sent because these centres are the need of the hour and the police need the citizens’ support to curb minor crimes.
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