Public complaints: Punjab police introduce several tech-driven initiatives: IGP

LAHORE: Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani has said that the Punjab police introduced several technology-driven initiatives to redress public complaints, especially related to high-handedness by police officers and delay in registration of first information reports (FIRs).

He stated this while responding to queries during a live chat with public on Facebook on Thursday. While outlining changes introduced to end decades-old "thanna" culture, the IG said the Punjab police established police facilitation centres (front desks) across Punjab where people can easily register their complaints which are administered by civilian staff.

Similarly, we also established IGP Complaint Centre 8787 at the central police office (CPO) which enabled the aggrieved persons to lodge their online complaints without visiting a police station, he added.

Mentioning about the behavioural complaints against police, Inam Ghani said this is a core issue and they are dealing with it currently.

While speaking about the resolution of public complaints through open door policy, the IG said that availability of SHOs and other senior officers at police stations is imperative in this regard.

"I have informed senior cops several times that deployment of SHOs on roads is of no use. SHO must be available at police station for the resolution of public complaints and for that purpose we have fixed timings of the SHOs and SDPOs to ensure their availability."

Brushing aside the notion that the KP police is very cooperative as compared to police of other provinces, the IGP said that he also served in KP, Sindh and Islamabad and, according to his experience, police are same everywhere. "What makes difference is the attitude of senior police officers. If DPOs and SDPOs would open their doors for public and ensure their availability for them, then all the problems of police could be solved," he expressed.

To a query about how the police would tackle "fake complaints" after introducing free registration of FIRs mechanism, the IG said he is a firm believer that police should immediately lodge FIRs after receiving complaints.

"If we don't do this, it means we are helping the perpetrators," he remarked, adding that free registration of FIRs would not create any burden on police but, instead, it would enable them to demand additional resources from the government. "At the same time, there is a dire need to proceed against fake witnesses and complainants under section-182 of the PPC," he said, adding that police will prepare lists of such people and punish them.

About black sheep in the Police department helping the land grabbers, Inam Ghani said they have prepared lists of land grabbers and their supporters (in police) to weed out this mafia from society. He said the police are also obtaining assistance from intelligence agencies in this regard.

Talking about the issues of overseas Pakistanis, the IG said the Punjab police with the help of Overseas Pakistani Commission (OPC) are going to introduce separate help desks at the police facilitation centres.

About the drug peddlers and gambling dens, Ghani said they recently held a meeting with the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Punjab in Islamabad and decided to launch a provincewide operation against "big alligators" supplying drugs to markets.

"As per the agreement, the Punjab police will lodge FIRs while the ANF will interrogate the (alleged) drug peddlers," he said, adding that major arrests are expected in the coming two weeks.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020