‘Watch-and-ward policy strengthened policing’

In order to make the police system more effective, the watch and ward system has been strengthened and cases are being registered without any hindrance. This was stated by the Rawalpindi Regional Police Officer (RPO) Imran Ahmar while speaking to The Express Tribune. To fully improve the policing system and channel benefits to the people, he said the department needs to implement an institution-based policy instead of a policy based on individuals, for which, they are trying their best with all available resources.

He said that there was a need for anyone including the RPO, to be transferred and posted anywhere, but the policies formulated on an institutional basis should be permanent and their implementation should continue. The Rawalpindi RPO said that on the clear instructions of the Federal and Punjab Government as well as Punjab Inspector General (IG) Inam Ghani, bold steps are being taken to improve the policing system in the whole province including Rawalpindi. Cases are now being registered without any hurdle in all four districts of the division including Rawalpindi. He said on the order of the Punjab IG and other stakeholders, the policy of free registration of FIR is being implemented in Punjab. "Now, nobody needs any kind of backing or source for FIR registration.

To make this system effective, e-tags are applied at the request of the plaintiff as well as comparisons are made for phone calls made on 15 as to whether the incident was registered timely or not." He said that initially there were problems at the level of police stations. However, now in meetings on curbing crime, the discussion on the comparison of crime figures has ended while attempts to trace cases are discussed. The Rawalpindi RPO said that the system of free registration of FIRs has been made so easy that now there is no complaint about it. He said that to achieve this goal, the police officers who deviated from the policy were held accountable.