Daily Times

In a historic development, the Bahawalpur Regional Police Officer (RPO) has been appointed as an officer on special duty. Now, this might have been a routine affair had he been prima facie involved in a heated political squabble, or made headlines for busting a highly incriminating sting operation. But the Punjab government has hit the bull’s eye by taking note of his “poor performance,” which led to a resurgence of hardened criminals along the Indus River.

The man-in-uniform is, however, not alone in landing on the butcher’s table because a deafening message has also been sent to the entire department. Calling on other RPOs to straighten their lines and roll their sleeves for anyone not making the desired cut would not be spared; the provincial government is definitely in a revolutionising mood.

While police reforms have long been the buzzword, nothing much has ever been achieved from the never-ending conferences and highly prolific commissions. It was only last month that a member of the dolphin squad breathed his last after getting shot by his own colleagues. History is replete with examples of fake encounters or more recently, staging of fake escapes en masse from prison.

Just a cursory glance at the performance of police officers would unveil a much-neglected primacy of crime prevention. Even after a report of misdoing (no matter, how crucial) is brought to their knowledge, it first gets scrutinised by their inner prejudices before an examination by the law. This bias gets magnified manifold in cases of gender-based violence or if the other party claims to have deep pockets.

The urgency for change cannot be stressed enough, but those at the helm have always been more interested in the colour combination of the uniforms or diversifying into more and more branches instead of taking a good peek within.

Constant evaluation of police failures, supplemented with effective punishment, remains imperative because accountability alone can force someone who appears on duty to put his personal agendas aside and work whole-heatedly for the protection of all living in the area under his command. *