Daily Times

To improve the performance of the Punjab police in terms of solving murder cases across the province the government is planning to establish specialised homicide investigation units by the end of February, which would be an integral part of the respective district investigation branches in all districts of the province. These units are to investigate all murder cases to be registered in the future under sections 302, 316, 319, 320 and 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code. A statutory standing order had already been issued by the Inspector General (IG) Mushtaq Ahmad Sukehra in this regard to exercise the powers conferred on him under Article 10(3) of the Police Order 2002 for the purpose of instituting the separation of criminal investigation from the performance of the police functions as required under Article 18 of the Police Order 2002.

Article 18 promulgates that functional specialisation with separation of investigation function from the law and order and security duties of police, which has long been considered a milestone in police professionalism and has remained an unambiguous goal of the Punjab Policem However, the modalities and methods employed to achieve the goal kept varying for lack of success, outcome and practicality.

The capital city police in Lahore is the only unit that can claim to have achieved some kind of separation of investigation at the police station level while in other districts it is still a mix as it might be a superintendent or a senior superintendent of police posted to supervise the investigation function, or only a special cell might exist to investigate heinous cases. Generally, investigation officers in all other districts of Punjab are essentially the same ones who also perform watch and ward, law and order, and security duties.

The latest amendment in Article 18 of the Police Order 2002 envisages a complete separation of the investigation function to the extent that the district investigation branch it intends to establish shall not form part of any police station and shall comprise of several specialised wings (Article 18, Clause 7). The district investigation branch shall investigate all cases registered in the district except those offences that may be notified by the IG of Punjab to be investigated by Investigating Officers (IOs) in the police station under the supervision of the Station House Officer (SHO) (Article 18, Clauses 2 and 3).

However, the present security situation and resource constraints do not allow the desired complete separation in one go. Therefore, as a first concrete step forward in this direction, a specialized homicide investigation unit, to be an integral part of the respective district investigation branches in all districts of the province, will be established to investigate all murder cases to be registered in the future.

The organisational structure and function of these specialised homicide investigation units within district investigation branches in various districts of the province will be based on the following guiding principles: every murder investigation will be conducted in a scientific manner by employing every available technology with optimal utilisation of available resources. The IOs will be carefully selected and will remain posted in the unit for a minimum of two years. The IOs for this unit of the district investigation branches will be of the rank of inspectors or sub-inspectors for the sole purpose of murder cases. No IO of this unit will investigate more than 20 cases per year. The total number of IOs in the unit will be equal to the per year average of total number of murder cases registered in the last three years and divided by 20. The same standard will be followed by maintaining a pool of specialised homicide investigators at the Punjab investigation branch. Justice, fair play and merit with maximum satisfaction and ease of the general public will be ensured.

The Punjab Police will be divided into three types of districts: the capital city district (Lahore), city districts (Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan) and all other 31 districts of Punjab. The capital city police have already achieved a certain extent of separation. The system will remain in place as such with the introduction of a specialised homicide investigation unit at the divisional level. Units thus established will be answerable to the superintendent of police investigation of the respective division.

In the city districts, the effective unit of police organisation above the police station level is the division, headed by a superintendent of police. Keeping in view the shortage of officers in the province, these superintendents will also be entrusted with the supervision of specialised homicide investigation units in their respective divisions. However, they are answerable to the senior superintendent police investigation of the city districts for their given role in the scheme. Under every superintendent there will be an appropriate number of IOs depending upon the average load of murder cases as worked out to be 20 cases per IO in accordance with the principles laid down above.

The divisional superintendent will be replaced by a divisional superintendent of investigation in due time. The divisional superintendent will be assisted by a deputy or assistant superintendent of police investigation who will perform the supervisory role that is performed by the sub-divisional police officer in the present scheme of things for DIB cases (murder for the present). Thus they will have a superintendent, a deputy/assistant superintendent and appropriate number of IOs to constitute the specialised homicide investigation units of DIBs at the divisional level of the city districts, headed by a senior superintendent police.

The office of the superintendent investigation in the capital city police and superintendent police in the city districts will act as a headquarters of the specialised homicide investigation unit. The Stationing of IOs will be made by the local command keeping in view the critical issues of reaching the crime scene in timely fashion. In all other 31 districts, the office of Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) will act as the headquarters of the specialised homicide investigation Unit. The SDPOs will supervise these units until the establishment of a separate hierarchy of district investigation branches. The SDPOs in their role as supervisors will be answerable to the superintendent police investigation of the district. In districts where there is no superintendent police or where the role is being performed by a deputy, they will be responsible to the DPOs of the district.

The quality of IOs to be posted in these units must be given special importance. The district head must follow the following guidelines for the selection of these officers: integrity should be above board, excellent investigative skills already displayed during murder investigations, knowledge of criminal law and prosecution and science graduates will be preferred.

The IOs must also be assisted by crime scene investigation (CSI) staff at the crime scene and station clerk staff of the concerned police station for the completion of the criminal record. Every IO should be provided with a motorcycle and a wireless set along with a personal desk to conduct his affairs. Lock ups and interrogation rooms can initially be shared with police stations and existing CIA centres. The strength and resources of the headquarters of these units must be decided by the district heads keeping in view the ground situation and workload.

The decision to establish specialised homicide investigation units will go a long way in improving the performance of the investigation wing, which previously used to devote its energy to primarily solving cases registered under Section 489-F (dishonestly issuing a cheque) of the Pakistan Penal Code rather than cracking cases of crime against property, persons and land grabbing that impact the lives of the public.

The writer is the Web Editor, Daily Times. He can be reached at shrnaqvi3@gmail.com and on twitter @Hassannaqvi5