Sada-e Azadi

Officers at Kabul’s police headquarters aim to provide safe and secure neighbourhoods for the capital’s citizens.

They want residents to be able to go about their daily lives without having to worry about young men who loiter in public places intimidating women and children and other passers by.

So, the officers of the criminal investigation department at the police headquarters have started rounding up boys and young men who loiter.

This process started after residents complained about the boys hanging around harassing and making trouble for women and children leaving their homes to go to work, school or the bazaar.

General Sayed Abdulghafar Sayedzada, head of the criminal investigation department, said: “We have rounded up more than 6,000 potential troublemakers in Kabul since May 2009.”

He said that the police bring the boys to the police station and register their details.

“Then we talk to the head of the family,” Sayedzada said. “After their relatives guarantee [the boys] will not do this again, we release them. We let them go back to their normal lives but only after promising they will not engage in this loitering in the future.”

Sayedzada added: “If we don’t prevent them from this kind of behaviour, they will become criminals in the future.”

The crime chief said that since they launched the roundup process in Kabul city, residents are reporting more peaceful conditions and less trouble than before.

The criminal investigation department of Kabul police headquarters has more than 800 police staff on duty around the city looking out for citizens and keeping the city secure.

One of their duties is securing the area, looking out for criminals, people engaged in suspicious activities, and people loitering.

Mr. Sayedzada said that his team has also arrested many kidnappers in the province.

Among recent operations were the arrest of a large gang of kidnapers led by Pesere Sebghat in Bagram district, and infiltrating the Zelgai kidnapping group in Paghman district.

Kabulis welcomed the idea of clearing the streets of young men with too much time on their hands.

Sohila Shazia, 16, is a student. She said: “It is a good idea and we are very happy to have opportunity to study in more peaceful conditions.”