KARACHI - Police used maneuvering tactics to show the decline in crime rate rather than to curtail the activities of the criminals. The policy of showing decline in the crime rate is usually employed in the police department from top to bottom, The Nation learnt on Wednesday.   The conventional methods used to evaluate the police performance are being employed even at the higher echelons in different ways while the weekly registration of crime cases, severity of cases and number of FIRs are the only method to assess the police performance. The most common practice that has been used by the police is to change the subject of FIR. When a person goes to the police station to register his case regarding snatched vehicle and mobile phone, the officials file the FIR of stolen or missing. Majority of the victims of mobile snatching doesn't go to police stations for the registration of FIR until they are deprived of other valuables such as National Identity Card and the things. Otherwise, the victims of mobile phone snatching just informed the mobile phone company to de-activate the SIM card only. The same thing happened with Shafi Baloch, an employee of The Nation, who was deprived of his mobile phone, office and NIC cards at gunpoint just beside the office situated at M.A Jinnah Road. Baloch reached the Jamshaid Town police station to register the FIR.  The police registered the FIR but changed the subject. Baloch said the police registered the case after he introduced himself but when he returned home and read out the FIR, its subject had been changed completely as the police had mentioned that his mobile and other valuables lost when he was on the way to office. A similar tactic was used in the case of one Adnan, who had been deprived of his motorcycle at gunpoint while the police registered the theft case. When Adnan, contacted the police, the concerned officer demanded money set the things correct. The street crimes are on the rise in city despite the tall claims of Dr Zulfiqar Mirza for eliminating these illegal activities within a month as no progress has been witnessed so far in this connection. People are being deprived of their cars, motorcycles, mobiles and other valuables in broad daylight while police and other law-enforcement agencies are playing the role of silent spectators and miserably failed in providing protection of life and property to the citizens. From January to May, a total of 8,537 citizens had been deprived of their vehicles while the statistic showed that during the same period in last year, 5,188 vehicles were snatched, which speaks volumes of the government's tall claims regarding the improvement in law and order situation. An alarming increase in mobile phone snatching incidents have also been reported during the last five months in which statistic issued by the Citizen Police License Committee (CPLC) recorded that 41,065 citizens have been deprived of their mobile phones.    On the other hand, Inspector General Sindh Police claimed 35 per cent decline in street crimes while the CPLC statistics showed the trend and the number of incidents remained is on the rise despite all claims of the law-enforcement agencies. During the last three months, 5,531 people have been deprived of their vehicles while in 2007 some 3,257 citizens have lost their vehicles during the same duration. Highly affected areas include Sadder Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town, Jamshaid Town, New Karachi and North Nazimabad Town remained while situation in the suburban areas of the metropolis is more alarming. Areas including Malir, Landhi, Korangi, Orangi Town and others where the ratio of robberies and other crimes is higher then the above mentioned places show the street crime rate is on the rise exposing the tall claims of the police and other concerned departments.