KARACHI: City police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon has directed the operation and investigation wings of the police to jointly fight street crime and asked citizens to lodge FIRs anywhere in the metropolis regardless of jurisdiction considerations of police stations.

He was speaking to police officers in the Sindh Boys Scouts auditorium on Wednesday night. Mr Memon paid tribute to officers who sacrificed their lives to eliminate terrorism and restore law and order. He said the martyred policemen were the pride of the force and their sacrifices would never be forgotten.

He announced a Rs1 million reward for arrest of culprits or groups behind the recent targeted killing of policemen.

He directed the SHOs to register FIRs of crimes immediately and warned that negligence in that regard would not be tolerated. In order to improve investigation of cases, he issued orders for appointment of competent officers and initiating departmental proceedings against inefficient investigation officers.

He directed the senior superintendents of police for investigations to organise training courses for their subordinate officers to improve quality of investigation. Investigation officers should also be provided training about “chain of custody”, which was the basis of cases, he said. The SPs and DSPs should personally monitor the course of investigation so that flaws in the probe could be removed.

City police chief asks operation and investigation wings to jointly fight street crime

The city police chief said the citizens faced difficulties in lodging FIRs about crimes due to jurisdictional disputes between the police stations and declared that the whole of Karachi was a jurisdiction and the citizens could file their FIRs wherever they liked and directed the police not to create problems for complainants.

He said police patrolling be enhanced and force deployment be made in a better way to control street crimes. A proper and professional strategy be prepared for arrests of habitual criminals so that street crime could be curbed.

Regarding traffic problems, the city police chief ordered removal of encroachments in areas where they created hindrance in smooth flow of traffic.

He said there was a ban on markets for sacrificial animals within the city areas and such markets would not be tolerated.

He said for the first time in the history of the police, the provincial government had approved a budget at police station levels to increase the capacity of the force. SHOs should ensure judicious use of the approved budget to achieve better results of this decision.

Mr Memon said the police had established two centres for rehabilitation of drug addicts in Landhi and Mominabad and appreciated the officers for it. More such centres would be set up in collaboration with Saylani Welfare so that crimes could be curbed and drug addicts made productive citizens.

He announced holding of weekly programmes at the KPO to distribute appreciation certificates and cash awards among officers showing good performance to encourage them.

The AIG said it was mandatory for policemen to wear bulletproof jackets when deployed for security duty. He appreciated the performance of Madadgar-15. He said efforts were being made to improve the overall capacity of the police to benefit the public.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2020