‘Crime rate will decrease if police stop seeking bribes’

AIG says intelligence officials must keep tabs on corrupt police officers

KARACHI: The Additional Inspector-General (AIG) of the Sindh Police's Crime Branch, Waliullah Dil, has said that crime rate will automatically decrease if police officials stop seeking bribes.

The senior police official was addressing a workshop attended by intelligence official, where he broached the topic of the Sahiwal encounter. "The Sahiwal incident is distressing," he said.



Workshop aims

The workshop was organised to raise awareness among the officers about the importance of their role as well as their key responsibilities when it came to fighting crime.

AIG Dil lamented that intelligence officers had no knowledge of their responsibilities. "Intelligence police is not meant to provide security," he said. "Its job is to investigate, survey and gather information about the crimes while dressed in plain clothes," he added

Say no to bribery

"Being a police official does not mean you can collect bribes," said AIG Dil. "Intelligence officers should identify SHOs and other police officials in their areas who are collecting bribes and report them to their higher officials," he added.

AIG Dil added that intelligence officers should also work in collaboration with uniformed police officials in their areas and inform them of activities going on in the surroundings.



A squad of 156 people works at the office of Sindh Police Intelligence Additional IG, but no one knows if they are present in the office or not. How will they work like this?" he questioned, adding that from now on, they would keep watch over the functioning of the intelligence officials.

"Only 117 officials were given training in the last 15 months, which is highly irresponsible," he said. The intelligence police should keep a close watch on black sheep in the police department - those involved in extortion rackets, smuggling and other criminal activities. "They should gather details of how much share the police station and senior officers receive monthly," he said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2019.