The Punjab Police on Thursday inked an agreement with the Sindh police to enhance mutual sharing of criminals' data committing inter-provincial crimes by devising digitalized software of criminals which will also enable the law enforcers to restrict movements of non-state actors. In a meeting held here at the Central Police Office (CPO) on Thursday, the agreement was signed between Sindh Police Inspector General (IG) A D Khawaja and his Punjab counterpart Arif Nawaz Khan during his visit to the provincial capital.
Speaking on the occasion, the IG Sindh expressed that modern inventions in information technology have changed policing culture of the Punjab police who not only adopted the IT reforms for the upgrading of their systems but also set a precedent for other police forces. AD Khawaja said that the movement of the criminals will be restricted after the agreement of digitalized criminal data sharing and other provinces should also follow the traditions of this mutual sharing.
Calling the agreement a milestone, he said the Punjab police have always been a role model for other provinces due to its reforms. He emphasized that there should be an efficient mechanism at federal level to promote inter-provincial coordination and professional skills. He paid greetings to the Punjab government and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), saying the process of technology sharing should continue.
The Punjab IGP said efficient use of information technology to face the challenges of modern policing along with mutual sharing of digital software of provincial police forces is the need of the hour by which anti-social elements will be eliminated who commit inter-provincial crimes. Arif reiterated his resolve to completely cooperate with the Sindh police. "This agreement is a start of a long-term partnership and, in future, both provinces will continue collaboration to protect citizens," he added.
Earlier, the Punjab Police had collaborated with many security agencies and shared working relationship of their various projects like Welfare Eye, Police Station Record Management system, Human Resource Management System, Tenant Registration System and Hotel Eye, the IGP told his counterpart. DIG IT Shariq Kamal Siddiqi while briefing the Sindh IG said that in Criminal Record Office (CRO) all documents including pictures, fingerprints and other details of criminals are secured and this process of identification of fingerprints is connected to all districts and field units.
He said the criminal data of one million people is available in the CRO branch of the Punjab police, whereas the Sindh police have data of 25,000 individuals in its record. With the sharing agreement, both the forces will access documents of criminals with only a click away, the DIG said. IG Khawaja also admired the Punjab Police's initiative of Front Desk System and Welfare Eye application which was developed to ensure proper look after of families of martyred cops.
Later, Khawaja visited OPS room of CCPO and DIG operations office and met with CCPO Lahore Ameen Wains, DIG Security Dr Moin Masood, SSP Operations Muntazir Mehdi, Chief Traffic Officer Rai Ejaz Ahmed and SP Security Amara Athar besides other officers.
He also visited the Punjab Safe Cities Authority's PPCIC-3 project and acknowledged modern technologies to curb crimes along with efficient traffic management system. He also admired the Intelligent Traffic Management System and e-Ticketing mechanism and termed them next-level steps. "Advanced tech-craft will guarantee crime control, while monitoring live dispatch of Dolphin Squad and the PRU," he remarked.