Using computers to fight kidnappers in Karachi
Kidnappings are up in Karachi, Pakistan even as the city makes inroads in the fight against kidnappers by using technology for the police's benefit, according to a New York Times story (registration required):
One minute, Jameel Yusuf, a Pakistani aristocrat turned citizen crime-fighter, curses like a New York beat cop and dismisses the kidnappers who prey on Karachi residents as "scum."
The next, he taps information into his
Palm Pilot and calmly explains how he uses a sophisticated computer program to track calls from pay phones and cell phones demanding ransom. Later, he talks excitedly about the bare-knuckle tactic he and the Pakistani police sometimes use after identifying a kidnapper — kidnapping the kidnapper's family in retaliation....He and the police also encouraged families to negotiate with kidnappers, as a way to both humanize captives and give the police more time to track phone calls. Unlike the Pearl case, most kidnappings in Karachi revolve around money and involve business executives or children from wealthy families who are worth more alive than dead. Instead of raiding hideouts, the police watch as ransoms are paid and hostages are released, and then make an arrest.
In a worrying sign, kidnappings are up this year, with 20 cases through September, the highest number in five years. Kidnappers are now using satellite phones, investigators said, which police lack the equipment to trace. But Mr. Yusuf vowed to match the kidnappers, step for step.
"I have no sympathy for the criminal," he said. "No sympathy at all."