Short supply: Peshawar with one police official per 1,116 citizens
As per Police Rules 1939 the cop to population ratio is meant to be 1:450.
PESHAWAR:
If the Police Rules of 1939 were to be followed, the provincial capital would be in need of at least 11,000 additional police personnel.
According to Section 2.2 of the Police Rules 1939, one police constable is required for every 450 citizens. The 1998 census suggests the population of Peshawar was around 3.8 million, however, the population has increased at a phenomenal rate. Current estimates suggest 6.7 million people are living in the city.
Meanwhile, records available with The Express Tribune suggest there are only 6,000 personnel. This includes constables, head constables, ASIs, SI and inspectors, DSPs and SPs.
Crunch those numbers and instead of one personnel per 450 people, Peshawar has one police personnel for every 1,116 denizens.
A senior police official says the services of these 6,000 people have been used round-the-clock and they are fighting both militancy and anti-social elements.
“First of all, the police is not designed to fight an insurgency,” the official says, “However, the police force in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has single-handedly taken on this responsibility.”
Understaffed
According to the police official, the police force is too small to cope with the population explosion in the province.
“The force is understaffed and is still active on two separate fronts at the same time,” he says.
As is the norm in hierarchical organisations in the country, the size of the workload is inversely proportional to the ranks of police officials. As a result, lower-ranking officials often find themselves bearing greater responsibility.
Most constables have been deputed round-the-clock at checkpoints and police stations in the absence of appropriate facilities, adds another official.
Not on equal footing
“The motorway police, on the other hand, have it easier,” he says, “They have rest houses along the highway and after every 100,000 kilometres, their vehicles are changed.”
There are restaurants along the motorway that sell food at a 60% concession to these officials, added the senior cop.
According to officials, traffic policing is a more attractive job than regular policing as officials receive better salary packages.
“Other police officials are usually deployed on the roads without any provisions of rest houses and concessions on food,” adds the official.
More often than not, the general public assumes the police operate on a higher budget. However, the senior police official says a large fraction of this money is spent on the salaries of the personnel and very little is left to enhance the police force, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2014.
If the Police Rules of 1939 were to be followed, the provincial capital would be in need of at least 11,000 additional police personnel.
According to Section 2.2 of the Police Rules 1939, one police constable is required for every 450 citizens. The 1998 census suggests the population of Peshawar was around 3.8 million, however, the population has increased at a phenomenal rate. Current estimates suggest 6.7 million people are living in the city.
Meanwhile, records available with The Express Tribune suggest there are only 6,000 personnel. This includes constables, head constables, ASIs, SI and inspectors, DSPs and SPs.
Crunch those numbers and instead of one personnel per 450 people, Peshawar has one police personnel for every 1,116 denizens.
A senior police official says the services of these 6,000 people have been used round-the-clock and they are fighting both militancy and anti-social elements.
“First of all, the police is not designed to fight an insurgency,” the official says, “However, the police force in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has single-handedly taken on this responsibility.”
Understaffed
According to the police official, the police force is too small to cope with the population explosion in the province.
“The force is understaffed and is still active on two separate fronts at the same time,” he says.
As is the norm in hierarchical organisations in the country, the size of the workload is inversely proportional to the ranks of police officials. As a result, lower-ranking officials often find themselves bearing greater responsibility.
Most constables have been deputed round-the-clock at checkpoints and police stations in the absence of appropriate facilities, adds another official.
Not on equal footing
“The motorway police, on the other hand, have it easier,” he says, “They have rest houses along the highway and after every 100,000 kilometres, their vehicles are changed.”
There are restaurants along the motorway that sell food at a 60% concession to these officials, added the senior cop.
According to officials, traffic policing is a more attractive job than regular policing as officials receive better salary packages.
“Other police officials are usually deployed on the roads without any provisions of rest houses and concessions on food,” adds the official.
More often than not, the general public assumes the police operate on a higher budget. However, the senior police official says a large fraction of this money is spent on the salaries of the personnel and very little is left to enhance the police force, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2014.