Karachi: During the past five months, street crimes have registered an alarming increase across the metropolis as the police seem to have failed in launching an effective response against the criminals.
Disappointed with Safe City project, residents of North Nazimabad have installed a large number of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) on their own to fight crime.
“Our one-point agenda is to reduce street crime,” Murad Ali Soni, head of the Neighborhood Security and Development Committee, told MM News. He further said that street crime has become a menace for the Karachi citizens.
Murad Ali further said, “When we started this project on March 25, 2021, Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon visited here and asked us to expand the scope of this project,” adding that it was a badly needed move, which would “help us in detecting crimes”.
Almost 80 cameras have been installed in four blocks of North Nazimabad. “With this project we have successfully curbed 80 to 90 percent of street crime and now we are planning to spread this project to limits of ten police stations in Karachi,” he added.
“Currently, our project includes about 80 4-megapixel night vision cameras, which are being monitored by a police officer,” he said, adding, “Wherever we receive a report of an illegal activity, we use the camera to dispatch the police.”
Another member of the monitoring body, Muhammad Imran told MM News that up to 80 percent of street crimes have been eliminated by installing cameras and monitoring. “We have almost cleared our area of criminal elements,” he claimed.
During the first five months of 2021, the people of Karachi lost millions of rupees in armed robberies and snatching at gunpoint with no district of the city remaining safe from the reach of criminals.
The data compiled by security administration and gathered by M.M News shows that despite a growing number of cases and widespread coverage of street crime by the mainstream media and rising number of people’s complaints, such incidents witnessed an upward trend in all five months.
