Time to train: 29 police officers to leave for Turkey by March 29

The cabinet committee has decided to purchase 250 cc bikes for the squad.

LAHORE: IGP Mushtaq Ahmad Sukehra has directed a 29-member police delegation to leave for Turkey by March 29. The officers will undergo a two-month training programme and return to the country and train members of the Dolphin Squad, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The squad is being developed to fight street crime and has been modeled after the Turkish National Police’s Dolphin Force.

A senior police official working at Central Police Office said: “The delegation will be led by SP Saddar Gujranwala Syed Karrar Hussain. After their two-month training, they will return and train the rest of the 1,000 members of the Dolphin Squad,” he said. He said that Sukehra had directed officials to induct more policemen for the squad.

On May 31, 2014 Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced the formation of the squad after he had met a delegation of the Turkish national police, led by Mustafa Ozguler. He had announced that the squad would be operational by the end of 2014.

The delegation members are: DSP Arif Mahmood, DSP Mir Kashif Khalid, DSP Shahzad Rafiq, DSP Mahmoodul Hassan, DSP Abdullah Jan, Inspector Muhammad Ghias, Inspector Tajammul Hussain, Inspector Atif Mairaj, Inspector Rehan Jamal, Inspector Mansoor Ahmad, Inspector Nasrullah, Inspector Raza Rauf, Inspector Muhammad Asif, Inspector Khalid Javed, Inspector Imran Haider, SI Farhan Sultan, SI Usman Ali Qadri, SI Muhammad Naeem Anjum, SI Sanawar Hussain, SI Ghulam Rasool Awan, SI Waqas Hassan, SI Muhammad Asim, ASI Farhan Hussain, ASI Waqas Afzaal, ASI Rizwan Shakeel, Head Constable Khurram Shahzad, Constable Muhammad Tauseef and Constable Muhammad Adnan Raza.

SI Farhan Sultan told The Express Tribune that he was very excited on his selection for the Dolphin Squad. “I will return to Pakistan after learning innovative techniques for controlling street crime,” he said.

Meanwhile, the cabinet committee for law and order has decided to purchase 250cc motorbikes for members of the Dolphin Squad. Requesting anonymity, a senior police official said that the decision was taken on Friday. “The Turkish Dolphin Force uses 1,250cc motorbikes. Turkish officials had recommended the same 1,250cc bikes for the Dolphin Squad,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2015.