Monitoring during the April-June 2012 quarter showed 20 police stations not housed in proper buildings although alternatives are available, says a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report. The report released on Thursday said FAFEN monitors visited 171 police stations in 98 districts. They found up to 70 of them operating in dilapidated buildings.
Of these, 27 were in Punjab, 19 in Sindh and seven in Balochistan. Fifty three police stations had unhygienic lockups. However, 159 had lavatories for staff and inmates; 167 had electricity; 159 had fans and 157 had telephones/wireless. As many as 169 police stations had vehicles but 11 did not have fuel to run them. On the other hand 42 were short of stationery and 43 did not have clean drinking water, the report said.
The occupancy rate for male and female staff was satisfactory. For men, all the sanctioned posts at the police station monitored in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) were filled. Balochistan (91pc), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (88pc), Sindh (82pc) and Punjab (75pc) followed. Sindh (93pc) had the highest occupancy rate for female staff, while this was 83pc each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and 63pc in Balochistan.
Relevant data showed 84 police stations did not receive any request seeking information, indicating a possible lack of awareness about the policy. Moreover, 35 Station House Officers (SHOs) had no idea such a policy exists although it was adopted by Punjab in 2006 and Sindh the following year. Twenty two SHOs showed dissatisfaction when asked about government's support. The reasons cited included lack of staff, insufficient logistical support (vehicles/mobile vans and fuel etc), shortage of stationery and scant funding.