Rising Trends of Street Crime in Punjab

Abstract

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Crime is not a result of any single act that is why crime prevention cannot be left alone to only one department. All crimes have certain socio-economic and psychological consequences, however, amongst them crime against property has serious consequences for citizen’s 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 the last few years. Street crime prevention is of great concern for the policymakers in general and police department in particular. The gathered crime data in Punjab signified that there is a sharp increase in the street
crimes in the province, however, police department still lack both resources and capacity to detect and investigate these 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 to control street crimes rather than 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, some of the countries have successfully
implemented strategies for the 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 developed 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 for the police departments in Lahore but there is a dire need to replicate this model in all city district governments by addressing other social determinants of street crimes.