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Policing Karachi

2017-08-29
IN today`s world where technology plays such an important role in creating conditions conducive to security and in helping solve crimes, it sounds like an idea with huge potential. The Sindh government is gearing up to launch a video surveillance project in Karachi that will involve the installation of 10,000 highdefinition cameras across the city, so that footage can be used in the investigation of crime and the breakdown of law and order. This is part of its so called Safe City project, which involves building public safety by improving the provincial government`s capacity to respond in a variety of situations ranging from emergencies to traffic accidents and crime. At an estimated cost of Rs10bn, the new cameras are to be installed at 2,000 locations that have been identified after feedback from the police, intelligence agencies and the Counter-Terrorism Department.

Certainly, improved security is a desperate need in this city.

Not only are crime rates sky-high, the violence is of myriad types and ranges from street crime to gang violence to rivalries between political parties. That said, a project of this nature has been implemented before but there has been little identifiable benefit.

The Sindh police currently operate some 2,000 cameras that have been being installed since 2008 through various departments.

Admittedly, these are only two-megapixel cameras (that are to be replaced by the high-definition ones), but some benefit from their use would have been a reasonable expectation. The new project may help in increasing the capacity of law enforcement but it must not be forgotten that technology is only as good as the hands in which it is put. Further, bringing some sort of order to the ocean of chaos and crime that is Karachi involves many other steps being taken as well, from reducing the number of weapons on the streets to improving socioeconomic indexes to developing the city`s tattered infrastructure. It can only be hoped that these aspects also command at least a part of the Sindh government`s attention.