Pass the test, earn the post: Keen cops sweat it out in test for SHO posts

Inspec­tors and Sub-inspec­tors from all over Sukkur turn up.

SUKKUR: A written test for promotion to the post of station house officer (SHO) was held at the police lines Sukkur, on Sunday, amidst tight security. There were 148 inspectors and sub-inspectors from the Sukkur region who had come to sit the test, and the supervisor in charge was Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sukkur Zafar Abbas Bukhari.

It was amusing to see that police officials, who make people sweat with their cross questioning, were sweating themselves because of the difficulty of the test and very limited chances to cheat. The paper had 12 questions, out of which 10 had to be answered. They were allowed to attempt the exam in English, Urdu or Sindhi.

The DIG told The Express Tribune that the question paper had been kept at the IG Police office. He explained that he made certain changes because he was afraid that it might have been leaked. He added that instead of printing copies of the question paper, the questions were read out loud to the candidates at the start of the test to make the process completely transparent.

If the DIG had been posted to a college or university, he would have proved to be a very good invigilator because he kept a keen eye out for any disruptions. When he found one candidate talking to another, he spoke into the microphone and asked the supervising staff to snatch the test from the candidate. After a few minutes, he asked them to hand the paper back to the candidate.

“If a candidate fails this written test, they will not be posted as an SHO,” said the DIG.

The inspectors and sub-inspectors had come from the four districts of the region, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur and Naushehro Feroze. Apart from the DIG, the Additional DIG Sukkur Shoukat Abbasi and other officers were also supervising the test.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2011.