Under-policing in Karachi

A megacity like Karachi needs more police on the streets given the city’s population. 

Currently, the total strength of Karachi police force is about 34,000 to 35,000 that includes nearly 7,000 to 8,000 on VIP duty. Given the population of Karachi of 14 to 18 million, this comes to a ratio of one police officer to every 522 residents, which is insufficient and pitiful compared to other big cities in the region and world.

For example, London, a city of 7.4 million residents has a police strength of 47,874 – a ratio of 1 to 155. Delhi with a population of 14 million has a police force of 58,000 – a ratio of 1 to 241. Lahore with its 10 million has a force of 30,946 – a ratio of 1 to 323.  In 2006, the United Nations reported that the worldwide median was 1 to 333 and recommended a minimum standard of 1 to 450.

If we take the UN ratios, the total strength of police in Karachi should be 40,000 to 54,000 and the recruitment of new officers should be from Karachi.  Besides shortage of police, Karachi also suffers from a lack of police stations.

Karachi has around 107 police stations which relatively low given our population, as it comes to 0.72 police stations for every 100,000 people.  In Lahore, the ratio of police stations to 100,000 people is 0.75, slightly better than Karachi. Delhi’s ratio of police station to 100,000 population is 1.12, New York is 0.92 and London is 2.20. Taking the ratios of Delhi, New York and London, the number of police stations in Karachi should range between 166 to 328.

Generally, Sindh Police including Karachi has serious integrity and professionalism issues. Back in 2017, it was revealed in the Supreme Court that about 12,000 law-breaking police officials were part of the force at one time, showing a huge trust deficit among the people of Sindh.

Another issue affecting fighting crime in Karachi is the slow implementation of Safe City Project (KSC) by Sindh government.  Sindh apex committee in its 23rd meeting back in December 2018 approved the Karachi Safe City Project on a pilot basis.

It has been over a year now since this decision but nothing substantial seems to be happening towards implementation. Sindh Chief Minister, who is also the Home Minister, should update the Assembly in the next sitting or at least, he or the Home Secretary should brief the relevant Sindh Assembly standing committee.

For the Karachi Safe City Project to be successful, the residents of Karachi need to know if the Sindh government provides rapid response training to emergencies services such as police, traffic police, ambulance, and medical aid. You can have the best high-tech equipment and install HD CCTV cameras throughout Karachi, but it won’t make a difference if emergency services do not respond rapidly.

Lahore Safe City Project, with 10,000 security cameras and a large patrolling security force equipped with modern gadgets and training, came at a cost of around Rs15 billion. However, Karachi being a bigger city than Lahore would need more resources. Is the Sindh government willing to spend nearly double than Lahore to bring Karachi at par?

Given the crime situation in Karachi and specifically street crimes, we require immediate implementation of Karachi Safe City Project but the people of Karachi just keep hearing general statements f rom Chief Minister and his team for the last one year that the project is being expedited. 

It is obvious that we need more investment by Sindh government into building up the Karachi Police force in terms of human resources, police stations, training and technology but what is equally true is a change in the government’s attitude towards the police as a personal force of the ruling party. 

Sadly, the rulers who are self-proclaimed ‘vanguards of democracy’ still have a British-era view that the police exist to protect and perpetuate their rule while keeping public under strict control or in the words of Shoaib Suddle, “Police was designed to be a public-frightening organisation, not a public-friendly agency”.

If we truly live in a democracy, Sindh government must allow the police to be independent and autonomous.  Furthermore, it must embrace and encourage democratic policing as defined by UN International Police Task Force as: “The police force of a democracy is concerned strictly with the preservation of safe communities and the application of criminal law equally to all people, without fear or favour.”

The residents of Karachi must demand better law enforcement as aptly articulated by Robert F. Kennedy: “Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.”