Balochistan police take a digital leap
A Data Command and Communication Centre (D3Cs) was inaugurated on Monday at the IG Police Office, Quetta to strengthen the police command and provide monitoring and connectivity across the province.
“The data of police has been linked to the D3Cs which is nearly 1,400 terabytes,” said Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langau while addressing a joint press conference with Parliamentary Secretary Information Bushra Rind and provincial IG Police Tahir Rai.
Briefing about the system, the home minister said it would be easier to arrest criminals across the country with the help of digitalised data stored in the system.
“A record of 1.6 million criminals from the three provinces has been obtained to store in the system,” Langau said, adding the system had records of criminals and prisoners of all the districts of Balochistan which would help in controlling the entire province from the office of D3Cs.
He noted the system would revolutionise the working of the police as around 40,000 personnel had been digitised in the system. This would help in identifying the attendance of the officers and ghost employees, said the home minister.
“The digitalisation will help in improving culture of police stations across the province as the First Information Report system along with all records of the stations have been computerized,” said Langau, adding the system would provide immediate information to the public.
The home minister said earlier, a character certificate was issued after three months but the digitalisation would help in completing the process within 72 hours of filing the application.
Langau apprised that an electronic receipt would be provided to a payee for timely addressing the grievances of the applicants, if the process wouldn’t complete within the stipulated time period.
“An emergency system has been introduced in all districts across the province through which it will be possible to complain directly to the inspector general of police on 1715,” said the home minister.
He also talked about cameras installed in police vehicles and uniforms of the officials, saying the authorities would use drone cameras to control the law and order situation in Balochistan.
The emergency system, he said, was not installed in various areas of the province during the survey because the Safe City Project was incomplete. These areas would be covered again through another survey, he added.
Through the digitalised system, the provincial government aimed to serve people by making the performance of the police as efficient as possible, the home minister said.
“This system will help the government and the department in formulating an effective anti-terrorism strategy to ensure peace in Balochistan,” Langau said, claiming that India was involved in attacks on Pakistani security forces and the neighbouring country was responsible for deteriorating law and order situation in the province.
He added that the police had seized a large number of non-customs paid vehicles, removed non-standard number plates and fined car and motorcycle owners.
“The law enforcement agencies have killed 14 terrorists during the period of two months, while the Frontier Corps have nabbed dozens of terrorists,” said the home minister, adding the officials had planned to launch large scale operations against the terrorists in the coming days.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 15h, 2021.