Sea Watch - a new police unit to patrol the seaside

The new unit comes in light of recent incident of police misbehaviour under guise of moral policing

KARACHI: South Zone Police has established a new unit named Sea Watch which will be made functional from next week. The purpose of this new unit is to provide security to citizens visiting the Sea View beach. There will be around 12 policemen deployed in this unit. They will patrol the seaside for 24 hours along with troops on horseback.



This decision comes in light of the recent untoward incident at Sea View whereby police officials misbehaved with a married couple under the guise of moral policing.  It was later revealed that the policemen reportedly engaged in harassment and extortion of couples.

The four policemen involved in the incident were dismissed on March 12 after videos showing the policemen manhandling and harassing the couple went viral on social media. Three out of four of those officials have been arrested while one is still at large.

South SSP Pir Muhammad Shah informed The Express Tribune that this unit will also ensure no police officer who is supposed to be on duty elsewhere is present at Sea View. He confirmed that 12 young officers will be deployed in this unit and police pickets will be set up at two points along the promenade.



The unit will also serve to raise awareness among people against bathing in the deep end of the sea and discourage littering at the seaside. The officials in this unit will be provided wireless walkie-talkies, torches and other facilities, he added. The SSP confirmed that the unit will be made functional from next week.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2019.