Daily Times

Based on the analysis and conclusions in the last portion of this article, the following recommendations are offered which are specific and can be implemented in a relatively short and medium term time.

Necessary institutions aimed at ensuring community participation in police functions like Public Safety Commissions, and bodies meant for conducting accountability of police, i.e., Police Complaints authorities should be established at appropriate levels. Furthermore, necessary amendments are required in CrPC, PPC and Qanun-e-Shahadat Order to resolve issues of FIR registration, and acceptance of modern forensic evidence as primary evidence during trial. Likewise, the plethora of laws which exist in an unsystematic and untraceable manner, should be unified, purged of potential mutual contradictions and codified for easy, uniform and effective application.

Encourage and promote implementation of genuine community policing at all levels. For this purpose, dedicate resources for the establishment of Citizen Police Liaison Committees at various levels, having representation of civil society, academia, and human rights activists along with meaningful representation of women. This should be addressed as a matter of priority.

Improve counter-terrorism laws by incorporating specific provisions for protection of witnesses and victims, admissibility of evidence and introduction of new methods of conducting trials with due regard to security and human rights considerations. Formulate a comprehensive counter-terrorism policing strategy to effectively prevent and detect terrorism cases and develop institutional linkages between provincial police forces and NACTA. The strategy should incorporate provisions for functional integration of investigative aspects, creation of investigation branches on professional lines with state of the art equipment and training of staff by specialised trainers.

Meaningful steps are needed to bring the percentage of female officers up to at least 10 percent

Insulate police from political interference and ensure postings, transfers and recruitments solely on merit. Consider empowering either the public safety commissions or establishing new mechanisms or institutions to ensure non-interference in police human resources management areas. Dedicate resources for establishment of an effective welfare system for police personnel including provisions related to availability of housing and medical and educational facilities for their families.

Decentralise police governance and devolve decision making to the middle and lower levels to improve service delivery and to ensure effective and efficient decision making at the local levels.

Develop an “Operational Procedures Manual” to guide police in performance of their critical operational functions including on: interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence, making arrests, conducting search and seizure operations, preparation of investigation files, liaison with prosecutors, management of public order and disaster situations etc.

Revamp the police’s human resource management system by developing merit-based, transparent and affordable recruitment and promotion criteria and procedures; posting of officers on different positions based on relevant competencies, skills and experience ensuring security of tenure of key police officers. Undertake comprehensive training needs assessment to determine the training needs of police personnel in terms of effective public order management, serious crime, organised crime and terrorism investigations and intelligence-led operations.

Through establishment of police integrated command, control and communication centres across the country like Punjab i.e. PPIC3 (Punjab Police Integrated Command, Control and Communication Centers), infuse technology into all the police’s working aspects: managing human resources, monitoring public space, responding to emergency calls, identifying key crime hotspots, collection of evidence from the crime-scene, establishing real-time interconnectedness with other stakeholders and departments. and last but not the least, meaningful steps are needed to bring the percentage of female officers up to at least 10 percent leading to 15 percent in the next five years.

The writer has done MPA from Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS) Lahore

Published in Daily Times, February 25^th 2019.