LAHORE: Newly-appointed Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rao Sardar Ali Khan has said that reforms at police station level are imperative to promote citizen-centric policing and improving the overall performance of the Police department.
The newly-appointed IG expressed these views while presiding over his maiden meeting with all the senior command of the Punjab police at the Central Police Office (CPO) on Wednesday. All the RPOs and DPOs joined the meeting via video-link portal.
Upon his arrival at the CPO, all the senior police officers welcomed Rao Ali and a spirited police squad offered him warm salutations.
During the meeting, the IG while underlining his priorities as the new commandant of the force said that among other things his policy is to create a sense of security among the people through protection of lives and properties by “stopping the hand of oppressor and becoming the hand of the oppressed”.
However, this objective cannot be achieved without bringing reforms at the police station level across Punjab so that problems of the people could be resolved at their doorstep without any recommendation, he added.
“As long as we do not focus on police stations we cannot expect improvements in police working and improvement in police stations,” he said and instructed the officers to stay in field areas instead of sitting in their offices because he or his appointed persons would conduct surprise visits in the fields.
He further said that the beat system should be activated in all the district police stations of the province within seven days and wherever the trouble is regarding the beat system then the concerned DIG IT should be contacted for provision of the beat chart.
He said that all the accused and proclaimed offenders should be brought on record and the process for their arrest should be expedited while the campaign against the fugitives should be made more effective and the bails of guarantors of the fugitives should be confiscated.
“Those found guilty of corruption will not be suspended or transferred but will be removed from the service as in my view, the transfer is not a punishment,” he said, adding that police is a disciplined force and grouping will not be allowed.
The newly appointed IG also ordered to intensify crackdown against organized crimes like gambling and drug dens and guest houses. He said that such illegal businesses cannot function without the cooperation of black sheep hiding among them.
Rao Sardar reiterated that a police station is the basic unit of policing and the dream of police reforms cannot be materialized in real sense without improving its working and changing police attitude and making public centric service.
He directed that timely registration of cases as well as legal action against those who had lodged false FIRs should not be delayed, adding that eradication of “Qabza Mafia” is among the priorities of the Punjab government, therefore, the police in collaboration with the district administration and other agencies would intensify operations against the illegal occupants of public and government properties and their facilitators.
“If a police officer is found involved in sponsoring, assisting and partnering with the occupation groups, he/she will be expelled from the department,” he said, adding that more effective measures would be taken to prevent crimes against women and children and other measures including Women Safety App.
He said that efforts would be accelerated to take steps in consultation with NGOs to prevent crimes against women, children and minorities. Capacity building of the investigating officers would also be done to improve the investigative matters and in cases in which the culprits had been acquitted, their reasons would be re-examined in collaboration with the prosecution department.
Prominent among the participants of the meeting were AIG South Punjab Zafar Iqbal and CCPO Lahore Ghulam Mehmood Dogar while all the other AIGs, DIGs, RPOs, CPOs and DPOs of the province participated through a video-link conference.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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