Rolling stones: Grumbling SHOs sit tests amid pressure to clean up Karachi

SHOs complain frequent transfers and corruption are affecting their performance.

KARACHI: Answer this question: If you do not have a female officer at hand, how would you perform a search on a woman before the sun sets, while it is setting and after the sun has set? If you don’t know the answer, don’t worry, your area’s Station House Officer (SHO) probably didn’t either.

This was one of the questions that was on a test given to SHOs in an attempt to ensure that competent people are in charge. About 132 men appeared in the exam on October 2, including some ambitious inspectors who wanted a shot at the coveted post.

Some of the men who are already posted as SHOs were were unhappy to undertake the exercise. “We do not understand what they are up to,” grumbled an SHO in the South zone. “In fact, [the senior officers] should be put to test because they have some shortcomings.” The results of the test have yet to be announced. But if a sitting SHO fails it and does not impress his seniors in a subsequent interview, he may well lose his seat.

The post of an SHO is an important one, as this officer is effectively in charge of an entire police station and its jurisdiction. This means that he controls the registration of FIRs and overall law and order situation in the area. Thus, it is considered by many a position of power and hence open to possible corruption.

Some of the SHOs who sat the test felt it was an exercise in futility because merit does not count. They complained that it was useless, as no one is posted as an SHO, unless palms are greased. The going ‘rate’ ranges beween Rs400,000 and Rs1 million depending on how ‘lucrative’ the police station’s location is.

Usually, an SHO is appointed on the recommendation of a senior officer such as senior superintendent (SSP) or DIG.

The man behind the decision to re-evaluate the existing SHOs is Additional IG Saud Mirza. He told The Express Tribune that it is necessary to appoint police officers who are suitable for their post which is why they have started the process of examinations and interviews.

He said that the police department is taking a “keen interest” in posting the right men to police stations. “We are fighting a war on terror and have very important tasks [ahead],” he said. “In these circumstances, we cannot take any risks.”

The decision to re-evaluate them has made some SHOs nervous. In background interviews, some of them demanded their superiors allow them to stay for a longer period so that they could produce results. The pressure on the police force these days is intense as Karachi has just barely emerged from one of its bloodiest summers. At least 1,000 people were murdered in drive-by shootings and were found trussed up in gunny bags, prompting the Supreme Cour to step in. Now the chiefs of police have the task of keeping the city under control.

The SHOs argued that an officer needs enough time to understand an area and its problems but unless they are given enough time, how could they perform. “We will work when we are allowed to work,” said an officer who did not want to be named. “By the time we settle into a position and start working, we are transferred. In such a situation who can deliver?”

Part of the problem is frequent transfers and postings, sometimes made under pressure. This much was noted by the Supreme Court, that said far too many political  appointments were being made in the force.

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