THE Punjab government on Wednesday formally approved the establishment of the first Crime Control Department (CCD) with an aim to curb organized crime and protect life and property in the province.
It would provide services to reduce seven major organized crimes, including trafficking of drugs, elimination of no-go areas, security of sensitive events, land grabbing, kidnapping, extortion, robbery, robbery-murder and robbery-rape cases.
The CCD will use modern technology to combat organized crimes as surveillance drones will reach the scene of the crime within five minutes to start the monitoring process.
Organized crime has become a serious problem and its magnitude can be gauged by the fact that in 2024 alone, 6709 criminal gangs involved in serious crimes across Lahore and other parts of Punjab were busted and 16,854 accused arrested.
This is despite the fact that Lahore is considered to be the safest city in Pakistan.
The provincial government, led by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, deserves appreciation for coming out with a concrete plan to address the grow-ing menace of organized crime in the province as the new department will immediately get the required manpower, arms and equipment to start its operations effectively.
The CM has ordered provision of all necessary resources to the department, the responsibilities of which include arrest and conviction of major drug dealers and dangerous criminals, elimination of no-go areas, security of sensitive events, kidnapping, extortion besides coordination with other districts to curb vehicle theft, land mafia, interprovincial gangs and criminals is also part of their duties.
The quality of the manpower is a key to success of any department and with this in view it would have been most appropriate if, instead of transferring police personnel to CCD, the department should have made specialized recruitments with necessary training for the officials concerned.
