What’s the deal with Pakistan's police?

Lack of training and resources, outdated laws stand in way of effective criminal investigation

LAHORE: If someone were asked to pick an example of what’s wrong with Pakistan, many would say the police without any hesitation. From conducting investigations to ensuring public safety, the most basic of law enforcement services, the entire institution is best by structural weaknesses.

Lack of training, dearth of resources, failure to keep up with modern law enforcement practices, you name it and the police in Pakistan suffers from it. As a result, criminals, both petty and serious, end up operating with impunity and public loses even more faith in their protectors from crime.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, both serving and former police officials discussed in detail the structural flaws that keep Pakistan, Punjab in particular, from effective law enforcement.



Tiny budgets, archaic laws

In Punjab, on paper at least, a paltry Rs20,000 is the maximum amount allocated for case investigations, the officials explained. The complete sum, they said, is only reserved for major criminal cases like murder or kidnapping for ransom. Cases of robbery are only allocated between Rs10,000 and Rs11,000.

The entire investigation must be completed within the aforementioned sum, something the officials said is next to impossible to do with honesty and integrity. And if that detail was not so bad on its own, officials said in 95 per cent of cases, inquiry officers never even receive that budget.

That is not to say cases never get resolved. The officials said that extensive scrutiny by the media does propel the police into action and cases do appear to be resolved with uncharacteristic speed. However, these ‘high-profile’ investigations often involve third-degree torture of suspects, the officials admitted.

This brutal police culture is at least partly a result of archaic laws imposed for a different purpose. The Police Act of 1861, enacted when the British ruled the Subcontinent, is still in place in one form or another, and allows police officials who resort to heavy-handedness an escape from accountability. Interestingly, historians and researchers have pointed out that the British legislation was a means to reinforce hegemony over the natives of the Subcontinent.

Under dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, the government did chalk out a comprehensive police reform plan in the form of Police Order 2002, police officials said. They pointed out that the order envisioned a police force that would serve as the guardians and servants of the public. It also segregated operational and investigative aspects of the current police structure. But 17 years on, the order has yet to be fully implemented.

Weak training, weak evidence

According to both former and current police officials, one major reason why investigation officers resort to torture is that they neither have the training nor the aptitude that the task requires.

“Conducting an investigation is no piece of cake,” said former superintendent of the Punjab Criminal Investigation Agency Umar Virk. “Not every police officer can do it.”

Virk insisted that investigators must have an inquisitive personality to begin with before they can receive the necessary training. “In most cases, the police officer is not inquisitive at all.”

The former CIA SP bemoaned the current state of police’s investigation capacity. “Investigation officers don’t even have a proper seating arrangement in police stations,” he pointed out. “And of course, many of them are not familiar with modern investigation tools and techniques.”

More than 70 per cent of investigation officers are unaware of modern scientific techniques, particularly on how to collect evidence and preserve crime scenes, police officials said. Consequently, the key to finding perpetrators of criminal actions is often lost right at the beginning of the investigation and police challans and evidence presented in courts are usually weak and unsubstantial.

According to Virk, police investigators’ failure to coordinate with concerned government departments and agencies is also a big stumbling block. “While all departments work with coordination while investigating high-profile cases, a majority of everyday cases go unattended and unresolved,” he said. Police also face extreme difficulties and delays when they need to obtain footage from the Safe City Authority, records from intelligence agencies or support from forensic facilities, he added.

While Punjab Police is setting up the country’s first investigation school in Lahore’s Chung Centre, officials said it alone would not suffice. The police needs more human capital and resources to create a better investigation infrastructure, they said.

Cause for optimism?

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Punjab Police focal person Additional Inspector General Inam Ghani claimed the investigation branch of the police has been showing better performance over the past few years.

“Police these days make use of modern tools like geo-fencing, mobile phone call locator and other crime scene instruments during investigations,” he said. “There has also been an increase in the formation of judicial investigation teams for resolving high-profile cases.”



Ghani added that the investigation school would impart modern investigation training to police officers and that his department is working on enhancing the quality and speed with which probes are conducted.

Regarding the lack of funds for investigations, the AIG said investigation officers were paid for expenses in an informal way earlier but will now receive money through cross cheques to reduce misstatement opportunities. He also insisted the department has an ‘effective accountability mechanism’.

He added that more than 39,000 police officers have received major and minor punishments from the internal accountability branch.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2019.