Police data offers research prospects

­There is a more urgent need for improvement in the research and analysis section of Punjab Police as compared to other wings.

During the past few years, Punjab Police has gone through a transformation to digital from manual handling of the data. However, many useful databases have piled up during the process.

For example, since the inception of the department by the colonial rulers, it was mandatory for every police station to maintain a large number of registers. Each register carried very useful information about a category or aspect of policing as well people of a particular area. This is just one example of a large chunk of data available with Punjab Police owing to the digitalisation. A large number of other databases were also available with Punjab Police, mostly regarding reported crimes and registered cases.

However, it is highly unfortunate that this huge potential is lying untapped. There seem no future prospects of using it for the studies and analysis aimed at improvement in the departments’ working and policy.

The databases available with Punjab Police have potential knowledge about history, anthropology, politics, sociology, psychology and other fields.

For example, it is often heard that policeman in Punjab work under immense pressure. There have been a number of incidents of suicide by policemen as well as officers. A research in exploring the underlying factors or commonalities in such cases could be done. Similarly, a large number of policemen developed health problems during their service and some of them died. It needs to be ascertained whether the trend is related to the service or just a reflection of the health conditions prevalent in the whole society.

Another example can be quoted of cattle theft, which has been an interesting aspect of the rural life. Besides crimes, village politics often revolved around it. A teacher a leading university of Lahore shared that a student of his had conducted a research in cattle theft and the role in it of a historically important political family of Punjab. An important figure of the family had served as governor of Punjab during the government of the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Last week, Inspector General of Punjab Police Inam Ghani chaired a meeting held to decide about starting an internship programme for the students of various universities. He ordered preparation of a plan so that the department could move for signing MoUs with reputable educational institutes. The press release issued after the meeting indicated that the purpose of the initiative mainly was enhancement of knowledge and building a soft image of the police.

The police high-ups need to broaden the spectrum of their approach. This exploration of the databases available with Punjab Police has not even reached the stage of talking about the tip of the iceberg.

Punjab Police need to devise a separate branch headed by an additional IG for research and analysis in view of the opportunities provided by information technology. The developed world has been investing in the field for decades, while the authorities here have not even taken a start in this regard.

The need for recognition of research as a priority by the police establishment is also important.

A senior IT expert said that a few years back when they started conducting meetings for digitalising Punjab Police, using the databases for research purposes was also agreed upon.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2020.