‘Strategic Development Plan to boost police dept’s capacity’

Policing model inspired by developed countries

LAHORE: Capital City Police Officer Lahore (CCPO) BA Nasir has said the implementation of the five-year Strategic Development Plan (SDP) will help the capacity building and crime-fighting abilities of the police department. He also forwarded the plan to the Punjab government for approval.

On behalf of Nasir, SSP Administration Athar Waheed told The Express Tribune that a large part of the plan needed no money for implementation. However, an expense of around Rs4 billion, over the stipend period of five years, is unavoidable for effective implementation.

He said the plan was focused on the “Urban Policing Model” and devised after thorough research into more than a dozen modern policing models of the developed world.

He identified the reforms under the heads of policy and law, internal accountability, external public oversight, traffic management and special strategic interventions. The SSP said these included international human rights standards for law enforcement, a support system for victims of crime and gender-responsive policing needed no extra-budgetary allocation.

Under policy and law reforms, Waheed pointed out that the implementation of Police Order 2002, with necessary amendments, was on the cards; as was the approval of new police Ruler, proposed amendments in law and standardisation of police work.

Bringing out examples from a 500-page long bonder book of the SDP proposal, he shared that they had suggested various legal and policy reforms that were mandatory for defining policing on modern lines.

The Central Police Office (CPO) had also forwarded a draft of reformed police rules to the secretariat for approval. Besides, the issue was also discussed by the National Judicial Policy Making Committee on the order of the apex court this year. A few reforms were also introduced.

He focused on building up a centralised chain of command, followed by different bureaus focused on specialisation and nature of the crime.

Waheed also talked about interventions in welfare and human resource development. He said welfare measures, as defined by Welfare Rules, were focused on post-death incentives. He suggested serious reforms and asked for delineating these as market-oriented.

Waheed also identified the need to introduce the best standards of policing with the interventions under the heads of international human rights standards for law enforcement, a victim support system and gender-responsive policing.

He continued that overall, 20 foreseen deliverables have been identified that can be achieved after implementation of the proposed plan. He said these deliverables were outlined after developing a meticulous understanding of existing challenges for the Lahore police.

It has been assessed that Capital City Police Lahore will transform its working and culture up to international standards of policing in the next five years. The proposed plan will not only fill the gaps in legal regimes for effective law enforcement but also transform the organisational structure for more efficiency and effectiveness. It will also strengthen the mechanism of internal and external accountability of police through enforcement of proposed procedures with the implementation of public oversight structure.

The proposed strategic development plan will cultivate a unique model of urban policing based on the functional specialisation that can be eventually replicated in other megacities of the country, he said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2019.