LAHORE: Newly-appointed Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Faisal Shahkar on Monday took charge of his new assignment as the provincial police chief.
Upon his arrival at the Central Police Office (CPO), a stipulated armed squad paid salutations to him while other officers, particularly Additional IGs and DIGs warmly greeted the new IG. After taking charge of the post, Faisal held a detailed meeting with the media representatives to underline his priorities as the new commandant of the province’s largest force.
Beginning the discussion by recalling his professional background, the IG police said he had the opportunity to perform his services in many foreign countries due to which he was well aware of all the basic and emerging challenges to community policing.
“At the beginning of my career, I was posted as ASP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after which I spent most of my services on management positions in Punjab”, he said, adding that short- and long-term planning and timely measures will be taken to deal with all these challenges in an efficient manner.
He said positive reforms and policies of former IGs will not only be continued, but security and services will be provided to the citizens with new enthusiasm and determination. He said that maintaining writ of the state and prevention of crimes, especially violence against women and children were among his top priorities and a zero tolerance policy will be adopted in this regard.
Responding to queries, Faisal said that public perception is the main criterion for evaluating the performance of the police along with crime data. He said the response rate of the police in crime control is fundamental and they will develop policing on modern lines and the process of reward and punishment in the police will be made stricter.
He said the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) is an innovative project in terms of crime control, and it will be expanded by providing more resources along with correction of faulty cameras.
To another query, the IG police said that based on digital data there is a change in trends of crimes but the protection of lives and properties of the citizens will be secured in addition to improving service delivery.
He said that after assuming the charge of the provincial police chief, he had taken the first briefing about the ongoing operation in Katcha area of Rajanpur and concrete steps were being taken to permanently eliminate criminals from this area.
The IG Punjab said the working of police station will be further improved with effective supervision so that people’s problems could be solved at grassroots level of police station itself. He said that at present the foremost challenging task for him is ensuring foolproof security for the upcoming holy month of Muharram-ul-Haram with the coordination with all stakeholders.
According to Faisal, transfers/posting will be carried out based on merit only and those officers whose public dealings are better will be given field assignments at police stations. He said the security of foreign nationals, especially Chinese people, will be improved further.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022