LAHORE: The annual report of Punjab Police has shown downward trend in crime of different categories such as murder, robbery, dacoity, theft and burglary in the province compared to the last year. As per the official documents, looted and stolen items worth around Rs 1.278 billion were recovered from 3,006 busted gangs, while more than Rs 60 million were recovered from kidnappers. A total of 79,510 FIRs were registered in 2016 compared to 82,657 FIRs registered in 2015 in the province. However, according to sources, 5 to 7 cars, 10 to 12 motorcycles were being snatched or robbed on a daily basis in the provincial capital, let alone the other cities. They said 4 to 5 robberies has become a routine in the city. They said that crime had rate registered an upward trend in the last few months despite routine patrolling by heavily equipped police staff such as Dolphin Force, Police Response Unit and others At least five innocent people were killed when they resisted a robbery bid in Millat Park Police precinct on November 19, 2016, besides injuring two others. However, suspects were killed in an alleged encounter after few days of the incident. According to the Punjab Police spokesperson, there had been 59% decrease in cases of kidnapping for ransom in 2016, as 33 of such cases were registered in 2016 compared to 81 registered in 2015. “Similarly, murder-during-dacoity cases were decreased by 21 percent. Dacoity and robbery incidents were lessened by 39 per cent – 1,520 cases were registered in 2015, whilst the numbers of cases in 2016 were 923 only.” He said cases of bank heists registered 50 percent decrease compared to number of cases (36) in 2015. “Likewise, 50 percent less patrol pump and jewelry shops were looted – in 2015, there were 115 cases of patrol pump dacoity which were reduced to only 56 incidents in 2016.” Meanwhile, a notable decline in motor cycle theft cases was also observed throughout the year, as 13,030 motor cycles were stolen last year and the number decreased to 11,854 in 2016, he added. He continued: “Murder incidents were decreased by 9 percent, as 4481 murder cases were reported in 2015 while 4,081 persons were murdered in different incidents in 2016. Riot cases were reduced by 25 percent, as only 24 such cases were reported in 2016 in comparison to 32 such incidents in 2015.” “Most importantly, there has been 100 percent decline in incidents of murder on the basis of sectarian conflicts and not a single life was taken in cases of sectarian violence, he said, adding that number of attempt murder cases registered a decline of 11 percent, as 4,253 cases were recorded in 2016 compared to 4,805 cases in 2015. The trend of assault on public servants decreased by 3 percent, as the cases reported in 2015 were 1,791 and 1,742 in 2016. Numbers of cases registered against crimes based on religious grounds were 197 in 2015 and 144 in 2016, which shows a decrease of 27 percent.