No place for recruits: Absence of training school crippling Sahiwal police

Officer says such facilities are a must to train new personnel

LAHORE: The absence of a police training school in Sahiwal is badly affecting the ‘operational capacity’ of the force in the region. Police authorities have sent proposals time and again for the establishment of a training school, but these have been never approved.

Senior police officers told The Express Tribune that challenges faced by police were multiplying manifolds with each passing day due to the prevailing security situation and terrorism in the country.

Police, he said, need a trained force and proper infrastructure to cope with these challenges. Units like the special police unit and counter terrorism department are being introduced to build the police’s capacity.

The new recruits, they added, need specialised training, which would be impossible without well-equipped training schools.

Venting his frustration, an official said it was highly unfortunate there was no police school in the entire region between Lahore and Multan.

He said recruits from Sahiwal region were sent to established schools, which were already overcrowded. Due to the current situation, police have to reduce the number of recruits from Sahiwal, he claimed.

The policeman said the current recruits were also demoralised by the absence of a school as it affected their promotions which depend on the passing of certain courses.

A proposal sent by the Sahiwal regional police to the Punjab Planning and Development Department calling for setting up a new training facility at Police Lines Sahiwal, states the project will cost over Rs1.6 billion.

The document available with The Express Tribune says Sahiwal was notified as a region on March 8, 2009, comprising three districts – Sahiwal, Okara and Pakpattan.

Police strength is gradually increasing by the day in Punjab and the recruits from Sahiwal are dispatched for recruiting courses every year to other police training schools. Therefore, the proposal stated, there is a dire need of police training school in the region as well as a regional headquarters to cater to capacity-building courses of new recruits.

Of the total Rs1.6 billion Rs1.14 billion will be spent on construction of the building and civil works. Rs465 million is the non-development recurring cost for staff salaries, regular allowances, operating expenditures, repair and maintenance, purchase of transport, plant and machinery as well as a furniture and ordinance store.

Sahiwal Region is headed by an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general. Police in each district is headed by the district police officer, who is assisted by a varying number of superintendents and deputy superintendents.

On March 4, a counter-terrorism inspector was killed while a deputy superintendent of police was injured during an encounter between police and suspected terrorists in Garh Fateh Shah.

According to CTD police, two terrorists were also injured in the shootout while four others were arrested and explosives were found in their possession. Two more terrorists were said to have escaped from the site.

In August last year, five suspected robbers were gunned down in another encounter near Jhaal Road. Three more suspects managed to flee. Two policemen were also wounded during the shootout that occurred late night.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2017.