Theft-weary police take to tyre bursting

Waking up to find your vehicle’s tyres punctured is often followed by a phone call to the police, but if you live in the city of Abbottabad, in Pakistan, a call to the cops will also put you directly in contact with the tyre-wrecking culprits. The Express Tribune newspaper reports that the Abbottabad police, a force fed up with criticism about its powerlessness to prevent cars from being stolen, has introduced a new means of foiling thieves – the police opine that if you can’t move a car you can’t steal it, and based on this logic police officers now spend their nights puncturing the tyres on parked cars in order to immobilise them.

“Under the new, unofficial method, police officials patrol the city streets at night and burst the tyres of any vehicle that they feel may fall prey to car lifters,” writes The Express Tribune. “Usually vehicles found parked in the open and unattended fit the criteria, but at times even parked vehicles under the supervision of security guards become the sources of their ire.” The newspaper says the tyres on “dozens” of cars, light commercial vehicles and trucks have been punctured as part of this police ‘service’, leaving owners with the cost of repairing the tyres.