Law and order: Safe Cities Project to be expanded, says Shahbaz

CM says police stations will be made a model to address complaints

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday the scope of Punjab Safe Cities Project would be expanded.

The chief minister chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order that decided to make police stations across the province model police stations.

Sharif said the first phase of Safe Cities Project would be completed in Lahore in October. He said the project would then be extended to Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala.

“The cities will be made safer under the scheme… modern technology will be used to keep an eye on criminals,” Sharif said. He ordered that able officials be recruited for the Integrated Command, Communication and Control Centre.

The chief minister praised the performance of Punjab Safe City Authority Chief Operating Officer Akbar Nasir. He also approved a programme for model police stations.

Sharif said the initiative would help address complaints more effectively. He said resources would be available to provide justice to the common man and improve the Police Department. The chief minister asked police to come up to the expectations of people. He said a digital monitoring system would be introduced to monitor the performance of model police stations.

“Police will have to work diligently in order to curb crimes and protect the lives and properties of people. No efforts should be spared in this regard,” he said. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Chief Minister’s Special Assistant Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Chief Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal, the IGP and the home secretary attended the meeting. MPA Jehangir Khanzada attended it from Attock via video link.

Street crime: Dolphin Force (almost) ready to serve 

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will preside over the passing out of the first batch of the Dolphin Force by the end of March, officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told The Express Tribune.

Dolphin Force, a new force within police, is an initiative of the provincial government. It has been modelled on the lines of the Turkish Dolphin Force. The force will be tasked with maintaining law and order, patrolling and curbing street crime in the city.

“The training of the first batch is almost complete. It is ready to serve. The force will help curb street crime and make the provincial metropolis safer,” a CMO official told The Express Tribune. Turkish experts have trained some 25 master trainers who were sent to Turkey to be trained. The trainers then trained around 700 police officials of the first batch with the assistance of the Turks.

The force will be equipped with tailored heavy bikes and sophisticated weaponry. “Officials will be posted with regard to crime and crowd concentrations. The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) has been working to geo-tag provincial crime data which will be used to deploy the officials. Their movement will be tracked by GPS. The officials will use bikes to patrol areas. This will enable them to pursue suspects across the city’s narrow lanes with greater efficiency and effectiveness,” another CMO official told The Express Tribune.

The force will consist of 1,800 constables, 60 ASIs, 15 SIs, four DSPs and an SP who will work in three shifts with 300 motorcycles. Other equipment being raised includes 10 minibuses for field support, 600 helmets, 600 body cameras, 200 GPS locators and 300 wireless radios. Force officials will be attired in a special uniform to distinguish them from regular police.

The force will operate under the administrative control of the operations DIG. Confirming the near completion of the first batch’s training, Operations DIG Haider Ashraf said its officials would be allotted 138 beats. He said policemen from regular police had been selected and trained for the first batch.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2016.