Rising Trends of Street Crime in Punjab

Abstract

Crime is not the result of any single factor and so is the crime prevention which cannot be left to only one department. History of crime is as old as mankind and all crimes have socio-economic and psychological consequences for citizens. Amongst them crime against property has serious consequences for citizen safety and economic activity in any society. Street crimes which constitute major portion of crime against property has consistently increased in the province of Punjab in last few years. Street crime prevention is of great concern for the policy makers in general and police department in particular. Crime data in Punjab signifies that there is a sharp increase in street crimes in the province, but police department lack both resources and capacity to detect and investigate street crimes. As street crime has evolved over a period of time where offenders use modern communication tools and resort to violence, the state response has been found lacking. Various public policy initiatives against street crime in Punjab are mostly designed for controlling street crime and not for its prevention. The focus of these initiatives has remained on prevention through policing measures and increasing deterrence against crime. Despite all the challenges posed by street crime and offenders, some of the countries have successfully implemented strategies in prevention of street crimes. They have adopted a whole-of-system approach and handled the issue of street crimes not only from criminological perspective, but also as a social phenomenon. Various strategies adopted by these countries signify the importance of addressing various social factors contributing to rising trends of street crimes in urban centers. These initiatives not only increased the cost of committing crime for the offenders, but also worked on creating conditions where criminal offenders find it less lucrative to commit crime. Punjab has invested hugely in technological support to the police in Lahore but there is a dire need not only to replicate this model in all city district governments but addressing other social determinants of street crime. Street crime prevention require a focused approach and citizen safety should find priority in all these approaches.