FAISALABAD – The opening month of the New Year was a terrible month for the citizens of Faisalabad, in general, and for the city police, in particular, as the crime figures continue to grow. It was a bad start for the people and the police, but not bad for the beneficiaries of the crimes i.e. dacoits, wanted criminals and robbers.
According to reports, there were 1,364 incidents of crimes in which cash, jewellery and valuables worth Rs 50.05 million were robbed, stolen and snatched. In addition, 346 motorcycles, 54 cars and 529 mobile phones were also lifted or snatched.
The violent crimes included the murder of six people, including an inspector, for resisting robberies while 30 people were wounded during the course of snatchings.
The glaring robbery targets included a bank, three jewellery shops, eight mobile phone shops, four weaving factories and dozens of general stores, houses and innocent citizens. Three dacoits were killed in separate police encounters during the month. The regional police officer (RPO) and other senior officers continue to take disciplinary actions against the police personnel for incompetence, negligence and corruption.
Madina Town circle remained on the top of the crime figures that stood at 370 incidents. Iqbal Town circle stood second at 292, Lyallapur Town stayed third at 280, Rural circle remained fourth at 237 and Jarranwala Town fifth at 187 cases of thefts and robberies. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, soon after coming to power, doubled the salaries and privileges of police as a part of his police reform agenda. But their performance remained unchanged and the public continued to suffer at the hands of dacoits.
A new type of youth gangs, actively engaged in recent wave of street crimes, has made police investigations more complicated than ever. These are ‘lifestyle offenders’ committing crimes just to finance their luxury-style expenses. Contrary to the involvement of absconders, proclaimed offenders and crime history sheeters, most of the street crimes are committed by those ‘first-time offenders’ who have no previous criminal record or history of arrests at any police station.
These juvenile delinquents have entered the world of crimes to meet their luxurious lifestyle and high standard of living. According to a police report, there are around 50 gangs busy in such activities in the city streets. They are driving on the city streets in rented cars to attack their prey. There are a number of instances in which such gangsters were arrested or killed in police gun-battles and their families raised strong protests to prove their innocence.
Of more than 50 gangs operating in the city streets, the police claim to have caught at least a dozen of these groups. Differentiating between the street gangs and proclaimed offenders, we must keep in mind that the proclaimed offenders target affluent houses or financial centres to take a maximum plunder; they don’t take risk for small amounts of money in wallets, wrist watches or mobile phones. These gangs of hardened criminals are no longer operating in the city as per the police reports. But we must remember that Rs 5.7 million robbery in United Bank’s Satyana branch last week is not the job of a juvenile or a petty thief.
The higher authorities in the police department have always overlooked the human resource factor of their organisation. The district has 38 police stations, but not even a single station is equipped with the minimum required strength of manpower. There are around 11,500 dacoits, murderers and other hardened criminals wanted dead or alive by police. Many of them are head money cases.
Anthropologists say that a total number of criminals in any given society should never be more than 5 percent of the total population. Unfortunately, the unnatural increase in demographic structure of that 5 percent has imbalanced our security parameters. The consequences are obvious; in today’s economic climate of recession, inflation and shrinking resources, there is only one thing that has recorded a multifold growth and an upward tendency; the ever-increasing crime rate in the city.
