Faisalabad: Crime rises amid police personnel shortage

In Faisalabad district, the unjust distribution of police personnel has become a major factor in the rising crime rate.

The number of serious incidents including theft and robbery being committed on a daily basis has reached 80 to 100. Citizens are being looted while police officers and personnel present in the police stations are harassing them under the pretext of understaffing. Protecting the lives and property of citizens is no less of a challenge for the district police, which are a question mark on the performance of the police.

According to the district police, the total number of officers and personnel in Faisalabad from city police officer to constable is 8,216. Out of this, only 40% have been deployed in 44 police stations across the district whose responsibility is to control crime within the limits of their respective police stations. While in the district of 7.7 million people, only 3,600 officers and personnel are stationed in the police stations and this number of police personnel is very low. Citizens consider this number grossly insufficient.

According to the released data, one thousand personnel have been deployed for the security of police offices and other government offices while one thousand personnel have been deployed for the security of police officers and other VIPs. Similarly, 250 personnel have been deployed to provide security to the courts and fulfill the responsibilities of the deputy court in addition, there are 450 lady officials in Faisalabad police out of which more than 100 are stationed in police stations while the rest are performing their duties in police offices.

The total police force in the second largest district of Punjab like Faisalabad is 8,216 which is too low to control crime in a district of 7.7 million population. Due to this, other serious incidents including theft and robbery are continuously increasing in the district and the district police is not succeeding in reducing the crime rate in spite of all efforts. In this regard, the PML-N members of the national and provincial assemblies had also met the city police officer in which the question was raised about the increase in crime rate. He was assured that the district police would use all available resources to curb the rising crime rate.

After the change of government in Punjab, Faisalabad police chiefs were replaced by Babar Sarfraz Alpa as regional police officer and Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi as city police officer. They were also targeted for rooting out criminals across the district and controlling the crime rate. Implementing this, City Police Officer Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi has started the process of setting up open courts in different police stations so that a comprehensive and concrete action plan can be formulated by making the citizens aware of their problems.

In an industrial city like Faisalabad, the business and industrial community have also expressed their concerns over the rising crime rate.