Field officers to pay surprise visits to police stations

Khan says trust between police and public can be improved with better service delivery

LAHORE: Punjab Inspector General of Police (IG) Arif Nawaz Khan said all field officers should pay surprise visits to stations and assess the working of staff deputed at front desks, the operations wing and investigation branches.

He expressed these views while issuing directions to all field officers in the province at a meeting of RPOs and DPOs at the Central Police Office on Monday.

He stated that it is the responsibility of the RPOs and DPOs to improve the working of police stations. All field officers must ensure the strict implementation of duties in accordance with standard operating procedures (SOPs) devised by the Central Police Office.

He maintained that monitoring CCTV cameras installed in lockups, the front desk and inside the rooms of station house officers (SHOs) should be ensured at any cost. If any incident regarding abuse of power or discourteous behaviour with the public is reported, then there should be no delay in taking action against the guilty officers/officials.

“Officers who do not award punishments to their subordinates should be prepared for departmental action,” he said.

DIG operations reviews cleanliness at police station

The IG also directed DPOs to personally supervise the crackdown against the top 20 listed criminals in their concerned districts, while the remaining accused should be arrested and presented before the law. He also ordered to prepare a list of officials and officers who were being posted to the same police stations repeatedly and directed to shift them to other police stations.

Further, the IG stated that stern steps should be taken against drug pushers, especially drug dealers peddling “ice”, as they are endangering the future of our younger generations. He reiterated that an information-based operation should be initiated against drug pushers, especially those at educational institutions.

During the conference, RPOs, CPOs and DPOs from across the province briefed the IG about the overall crime situation and ongoing operations.

The IG believed that trust between the police and the public can be improved with better service delivery and coordination.

“All police officers should brief their subordinates about public dealings so that they may win their hearts by ensuring better public service delivery.”

“There should be no delay in taking departmental action against police officers found guilty of illegally detaining suspects or any kind of irregularities and negligence in reports submitted by teams of the internal accountability bureau,” he said.

He maintained that the security plan must be revised for sensitive installations, worship places of minorities and educational institutions in all districts across the province. “Existing security arrangements should be improved with all available resources,” he said.

Additional IG RD Zafar Iqbal, Additional IG Establishment Ahmed Latif, Additional IG DI Azhar Hameed Khokar, Additional IG Operations Inam Ghani, Additional IG Welfare and Finance Rao Sardar, Additional IG PHP Manzoor Sarwar Chaudhary, Additional IG Investigation Abubakar Khuda Buksh, Additional IG Traffic Farooq Mazhar, Additional IG Logistics and Procurement Ghulam Rasool Zahid, Additional IG Special Branch Zaeem Iqbal Sheikh and Additional IG CTD Rai Muhammad Tahir along with other senior officers were also present.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2019.