Police chief calls for every police station in Karachi to have ‘raid team’

KARACHI: Karachi police chief Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh on Sunday announced that the police set-up will undergo ‘radical changes.’

Chairing a high-level meeting at the Police Headquarters, which was attended by all DIGs, SSPs and other officers, Dr Shaikh called for ‘empowering’ station investigation officers (SIOs) and provisions of computers, printers and photostat machines to investigation officers. He said every SIO would have two mobile vans and two motorbikes, besides other facilities, at his disposal. He also directed setting up ‘investigation units’ in order to improve the investigation process.

Furthermore he said that the the IOs would be assigned three to four cases on a monthly basis instead of several cases at one time, for better investigation, adding that the IOs would be provided with the cost of investigations in advance so they are not financially burdened.

He said malkhana and lock-up of each police station would be the responsibility of the SIOs, who would also be responsible for the custody of all inmates.

Dr Shaikh also called for  the establishment of a “a raid party comprising of eight to 10 policemen” along with an interrogation room of international standards.

He regretted that over “100 black sheep” were giving a bad name to the 36,000-strong police force, saying that such people will no longer be tolerated in the police.

The city police chief also claimed that the street crimes in the city had actually ‘decreased’ as per the comparative data compiled by the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee. However, he noted that while crimes were on a decline in the metropolis except theft of motorbikes.

He disclosed that certain groups were active and concerted efforts were being made to curb their activities.