ISLAMABAD: The New York Police Department (NYPD) says community policing is the key to bringing crime rates down.

At a cricket camp on Tuesday, the NYPD`s Lieutenant Adeel Rana said crime cannot be controlled unless there is coordination between the police and the community.

Lieutenant Rana and Detective Elvis Vukeli from the NYPD`s Community Affairs Bureau arrived in Pakistan on an eight-day visit to talk to law enforcement officials about ways to foster a positive and productive relationship between the police and the communities they serve.

On Tuesday both officers attended and played cricket with children at a youth cricket skill camp in Saidpur. The event was organised by the US embassy and was inaugurated by the US Embassy`s Charge d` Affaires Jonathan Pratt.

At the event Lieutenant Rana told Dawn that the role of the community was very important in controlling crime. He gave the example of New York and said, `The performance of the NYPD was not up to the mark in the `70s. After introducing community policing the city`s police managed to control crime. Today`s New York is entirely different than that of the 70s.

The Faisalabad-born police officer moved to the US in the 1980s and is President of Muslim Of ficers Society. He isconsidered as one of the most efficient police officers in the big apple. According to the US embassy, Lieutenant Rana and his team have busted several narcotics and firearm criminals and have helped to bring order to the city.

The Lieutenant`s resume says that his efforts led to a `a search warrant that resulted in the discovery of 25 guns, including machine guns, as well as a search warrant resulting in the largest firework seizure in the history of New York City: 9,000 pounds of fireworks`.

Detective Elvis Vukeli also shared his thoughts on community policing with Dawn. He said: `Today`s cricket camp helped in showing the youth that police officers are not outsiders who should be feared, but community members who are there to support them.

Both NYPD officers also met with some senior police officers and were briefed about capital police`s communality policing project. At a roundtable conference, Detective Vukeli said New York police often got help from the people and gave the example of the foiled terrorist attack on Times Square.

During their week-long visit, the of ficers will meet with other law enforcement officials and will also visit educational institutes to promote community policing in Islamabad.A Reporter