Police kick off contact drive with communities

Residents recommend stricter conditions for granting membership to community police force

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to reach out to the public as part of their neighbourhood policing system, senior police officials in the capital met with representatives of communities.

Two separate meetings were held at two police stations where police officials interacted with residents.

The first meeting was held at the Secretariat police station for City Zone while the other was held at the Ramna station to cover the Saddar Zone.

Station house officers from the two stations along with and sub-divisional police officers briefed the community representatives about the structure, working and objectives of neighbourhood committees.

“Community and service-oriented policing is the only way to win public confidence and neighbourhood watch committees (NWCs) would be made more effective to bridge the gap between police and people,” said a police statement.

It is pertinent to note here that there have been countless initiatives by the police in the name of community policing in the past as well, but such efforts have often fallen by the wayside.

Officers say almost every new police chief has pushed for the idea initially but the efforts were never institutionalized. Being person-specific, these initiatives are forgotten as soon as the chief is replaced.

Police said the incumbent IGP Sultan Azam Temuri wishes to promote people-friendly policing and promote the community’s active involvement in local policing.

During Sunday’s two meetings, representatives of the community were requested to come forward with their ideas on how police can improve liaison with the community to render its functions effectively and project a soft image of the police.

Residents warmly welcomed the initiative and presented several suggestions, including strict checks when granting membership for community policing, awareness campaigns about security and safety of citizens, medical camps and health walks.

The meetings ended with the hope that coordination will be enhanced in the future and effective work will be undertaken for better policing.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2018.