Police organisation: Security Division to be expanded, says IG
Division to get strength of 10,000 so operations police are not sent on security duty.
LAHORE:
The Security Division is to be given additional strength in terms of vehicles and officials so that the operations police are no longer forced to concentrate on security for important personalities at the expense of their primary duty to fight crime, said Punjab Police Inspector General Haji Habibur Rehman on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview, IG Habibur Rehman said that the Security Division, which currently has an official strength of 1,300 personnel, would be expanded so it constituted about 40 per cent of the Lahore Police.
There are some 26,000 personnel in Lahore Police, meaning the division would have a strength of about 10,000. He said that 17 acres in Manawan had been allotted for the construction of an SD headquarters.
A senior police officer with the IG’s office said that senior officers of Lahore Police “tried to give extra protocol to VVIPs for reasons best known to them”. He said that if these “self-imposed duties” were abolished, the present set up would work fine. He said that expanding the strength of the Security Division would leave personnel at police stations to focus on crime prevention and detection rather than security duty when VVIPs came to town.
An officer in the Lahore Police told The Express Tribune that currently some 7,000-8,000 extra personnel had been given to the Security Division and deployed for the security of important persons.
He said it was unclear what would happen to the Elite Force personnel and vehicles on security duty. Presently, more than 826 Elite Force personnel, of its total strength of 974, were working with VVIPs. He said that protocol duties were not in the Elite Force mandate.
He said around 25 vehicles from the Mobiles Squad were routinely sent on VVIP duty. He said that if these vehicles were permanently given to the Security Division, it would compromise patrolling in the city. However, he agreed that bolstering the Security Division would mean that station house officers (SHOs) and superintendents of police (SP) would be left to focus on crime rather than security.
Security Division DIG Ahmad Mubarak refused to comment on the issue, saying many things were unclear at the moment.
Women’s police stations
IG Rehman said that they planned to set up woman’s police stations in up to 15 districts in the Punjab “soon”. He added: “We cannot build one in each district due to limited resources.”
He said that no decision had been made to immediately move the female lock-up in Race Course police station, but the Women’s Police Station would be given a separate building eventually.
About new police uniforms, IG Rehman said that the decision rests with regional police officers. He said that he was in favour of giving personnel a special allowance so they could get their own uniforms stitched.
Asked whether he was planning to reduce the 12-hour shifts Punjab Police work in, he said that the force would need to be tripled in size if they were to implement a system of three eight-hour shifts per day.
He said that more ammunition would be purchased for personnel for fire arms practice in refresher and training courses.
He said that district police officers (DPOs) would be sent on refresher courses to improve their skills. The two-day courses would take place at the Central Police Office on April 9-10, April 16-17 and April 23-24.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2012.
The Security Division is to be given additional strength in terms of vehicles and officials so that the operations police are no longer forced to concentrate on security for important personalities at the expense of their primary duty to fight crime, said Punjab Police Inspector General Haji Habibur Rehman on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview, IG Habibur Rehman said that the Security Division, which currently has an official strength of 1,300 personnel, would be expanded so it constituted about 40 per cent of the Lahore Police.
There are some 26,000 personnel in Lahore Police, meaning the division would have a strength of about 10,000. He said that 17 acres in Manawan had been allotted for the construction of an SD headquarters.
A senior police officer with the IG’s office said that senior officers of Lahore Police “tried to give extra protocol to VVIPs for reasons best known to them”. He said that if these “self-imposed duties” were abolished, the present set up would work fine. He said that expanding the strength of the Security Division would leave personnel at police stations to focus on crime prevention and detection rather than security duty when VVIPs came to town.
An officer in the Lahore Police told The Express Tribune that currently some 7,000-8,000 extra personnel had been given to the Security Division and deployed for the security of important persons.
He said it was unclear what would happen to the Elite Force personnel and vehicles on security duty. Presently, more than 826 Elite Force personnel, of its total strength of 974, were working with VVIPs. He said that protocol duties were not in the Elite Force mandate.
He said around 25 vehicles from the Mobiles Squad were routinely sent on VVIP duty. He said that if these vehicles were permanently given to the Security Division, it would compromise patrolling in the city. However, he agreed that bolstering the Security Division would mean that station house officers (SHOs) and superintendents of police (SP) would be left to focus on crime rather than security.
Security Division DIG Ahmad Mubarak refused to comment on the issue, saying many things were unclear at the moment.
Women’s police stations
IG Rehman said that they planned to set up woman’s police stations in up to 15 districts in the Punjab “soon”. He added: “We cannot build one in each district due to limited resources.”
He said that no decision had been made to immediately move the female lock-up in Race Course police station, but the Women’s Police Station would be given a separate building eventually.
About new police uniforms, IG Rehman said that the decision rests with regional police officers. He said that he was in favour of giving personnel a special allowance so they could get their own uniforms stitched.
Asked whether he was planning to reduce the 12-hour shifts Punjab Police work in, he said that the force would need to be tripled in size if they were to implement a system of three eight-hour shifts per day.
He said that more ammunition would be purchased for personnel for fire arms practice in refresher and training courses.
He said that district police officers (DPOs) would be sent on refresher courses to improve their skills. The two-day courses would take place at the Central Police Office on April 9-10, April 16-17 and April 23-24.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2012.