A FAFEN report released on Thursday revealed that extortion cases had increased sharply in October last year with 427 FIRS registered in 8 districts, compared to 25 FIRs registered in the preceding month. While no extortion cases had been reported in Karachi East in September, 305 cases were filed in October, the report stated.
FAFEN Crime Monitors visited 91 District Police Officers and reported an overall 6 percent growth in crimes relating to property.
Motor vehicle lifting cases went up 15 percent, from 34 FIRs per district to 39 during the monitored period with Lahore as the highest reporting district, followed by Faisalabad.
Incidents of robbery rose by 4 percent and incidents involving criminal trespass increased by 3 percent. Motor vehicle snatchings (16 per district) remained unchanged. Cases related to criminal misappropriation of property fell 16 percent while reported cases of theft decreased by 9 percent.
A 3 percent increase in total FIRs was reported during October, 537 FIRs were registered in 91 districts while 40,461 FIRs had been reported in 92 districts in the preceding month. Other crimes constituted 61 percent of the total registered cases, followed by crimes relating to property (20 percent), crimes involving physical harm to people (10 percent), threat and fraud (8 percent) and crimes against women (2 percent).
Punjab contributed to 63 percent of the total crime burden, followed by KP (23 percent), Sindh (12 percent), Balochistan (2 percent) and Islamabad Capital Territory (159 FIRs). Better outreach, lack of parallel judicial system and a higher confidence level between the police and people are said to be the reasons for better crime reportage in Punjab than other regions.
Category-wise, crimes involving physical harm fell 6 percent, while crimes relating to property rose by 6 percent along with other crimes (increase of 5 percent). On the other hand, crimes relating to property, threat and fraud remained constant.
The number of offenses related to marriage increased by 10 percent, with Faisalabad and Multan registering the highest number of such cases. Other crimes in the category were either dropped or remained unchanged in number.
