Constant monitoring: SHO offices no longer ‘private’ in Rawalpindi

Officers bound to attend public hearings at precincts

RAWALPINDI: The days of slacking for police officers in Rawalpindi are over after the provincial police department decided to set up an online monitoring system for SHOs in the province from next month.

In a notice issued by the Punjab police on Thursday, Inspector General of Punjab Police Amjad Javed Saleemi has directed to install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the offices of Station House Officers (SHOs) in precincts across Punjab.

Saleemi has further directed that SHOs ensure that they are present for at least two hours in their respective police stations to hear public complaints. The notice, written by Director Inspector General (DIG) of Information Technology Zulfiqar Hameed, also fixed the time for these hearings as 3pm to 5pm in winters and 4pm to 6pm in summers.

However, the CCTV cameras installed will only operate during the time set for public hearings.

These cameras will start working from February 1 “without fail”, the notice read.

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Noting that similar monitoring cameras are already installed to actively observe the front desk of all police stations, DIG Hameed said that the digital video recorders (DVRs) these cameras are connected to are grossly underused.

“This new camera in the office of the SHO can be dovetailed in the already existing system of monitoring of front desks by creating a new group of SHOs for their effective monitoring,” DIG Hameed added.

He further said that small cameras with resolutions of a megapixel are available for around Rs1,250 in the market while the ones with slightly better quality at two megapixels are available for around Rs1,850.

“This is a cost-effective monitoring solution and will definitely enhance public confidence, reduce the propensity of the public to reach higher offices and resolve their grievances at the local level,” the notice contended.

Similar orders had been issued during the tenures of former dictator General (retired) Pervez Musharraf and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. These measures, though, only remained effective for a short period of time.

Meanwhile, officials of the Rawalpindi police and locals hope that the situation may change and the public hearings are sustained if the SHOs know they are being monitored by the IG himself.

Rawalpindi resident Waqas hoped that the practices in Punjab’s police stations improve after this step.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2019.