Street crime in Karachi dropped 14% this year, says Sindh police chief

Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Javed Alam Odho said on Tuesday that street crime in Karachi has declined by 14% this year.

He made these remarks while addressing a seminar on the importance of community policing.

The IGP said that no police force in the world could perform its duties without public cooperation. He recalled that when he was serving as a DIG in 2012, street crime was not a major topic of discussion, adding that Karachi had since made progress.

He also said that international artists were now visiting and staying in Karachi to promote art, describing it as a positive development.

Odho said Karachi previously had 32,000 surveillance cameras, but their number had been increased to between 40,000 and 42,000 over the past two to three years. He said the cameras were helping detect criminal activities and other incidents, while many suspects involved in vehicle snatching were being caught through surveillance footage or police encounters.

He added that the police were considering a proposal to turn CPK centres into community centres, where judicial magistrates could help resolve domestic disputes. Such disputes, he said, sometimes escalated into killings and other crimes.

The IGP also pointed to the involvement of domestic workers in criminal activities, claiming that one female suspect had facilitated 18 robberies on her own.

He said Karachi had around 42,000 police personnel, while the city needed 60,000 officers with an understanding of education and modern technology.

Odho further said that across Sindh, killings during robbery-resistance incidents had declined by 17%, while injuries in such incidents had fallen by 32%.

Speaking at the seminar, Additional IGP Azad Khan said Karachi was Pakistan's largest city and the backbone of its economy, making policing a major challenge that could not be addressed without public cooperation.

He praised the business community for playing its role and called for further expansion of CPK initiatives.

Azad Khan said street crime in Karachi had declined by 15%, while murders and other serious crimes had dropped by 32%. He also reported a 15% reduction in vehicle snatching cases, an 89% decline in killings during robbery-resistance incidents and an 80% decrease in injuries.

He said the city needed more surveillance cameras and that efforts were being made to connect cameras installed under community policing initiatives with the Safe City system