The Rescue 15 police unit will be decentralised and its work force will be put at the disposal of operations police.
Personnel and vehicles of Rescue 15 will be reallocated under the direct command of respective Superintendents of Police (SP) in the city’s four zones.
They will continue to respond to emergencies and will have more authority to take action. The decision was taken in a meeting between SPs and Senior Superintendent of Police Tahir Alam Khan on Saturday.
“The helpline and other facilities previously associated with Rescue 15 will continue to function the same way,” said Altaf Aziz Khattak, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Security).
“The falcons, vehicles and personnel will be allocated to police stations according to their needs,” he added.
“The idea was to make up for the lack of force and resources. Now the dedicated vehicles of Rescue 15 police will also be available for regular operations like special checking, enhanced patrolling and checking crimes,” said a police official.
At present, Rescue 15 is a separate unit of police responding only to emergency calls. It has a separate officer in-charge holding the rank of SP.
However, they could not register cases or proceed against any suspect found responsible for creating an emergency. They had to rely on duty officers from the respective police stations for further action after providing emergency assistance.
“The process was time consuming and more force and vehicles of police were utilised in the previous procedure,” said Khattak.
“Now the same officer will have authority to take action and act as the officer on duty,” he added.
Police said the decentralization of Rescue 15 police will not only reduce the existing disconnect between the officers of the four zones of Islamabad Capital Territory but will also reduce the response time.
The emergency calls for help will be received in the same way as before but they will be directed to the police station of the area concerned, where the respective supervisor will inform and move the Rescue 15 falcons to reach at the trouble spot.
All fourteen police stations of the city would forward their requirements and needs to the Deputy Superintendent of Police Security’s office after which the Rescue 15 force will be deputed at the police stations as needed.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 6th, 2011.
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