Daily Times

Community policing is a soft and proactive method of policing.

Community policing is the solution to eliminate and prevent accidents, protect children and women, along with providing counselling to citizens in trouble, and combating violent extremism, terrorism and crime. Therein, police and the public will work together to achieve these goals.

Community policing ensures safety and peace of the community.

It plays an important role in police-community relations, and problem-solving.

In Japan, the image of police is different as Japan Police strongly believes in community policing (CP) to keep a close connection with citizens. People see police as protectors of communities and ask them for help.

At the time of the earthquake in 2005 in Pakistan, the Japanese government had dispatched a team of “Disaster Relief” where 15 officers of “Japan Disaster Relief Team” visited Pakistan for assistance. Japan has maintained a good model of community policing. Japan Police officers are professionally trained for the management of natural disasters.

Here, the total strength of Japan Police is 296,700, of which over 6,500 police boxes (koban) stand deployed in the country, while approximately 19,500 police officers have been stationed at police boxes (koban).

Moreover, 12,000 kobans (chuzaisho) liaison councils have been established throughout the country as the primary focus on community policing. Another successful example of community policing is from Bangladesh, where 40,000 police officers working at the ward-level community forums, which have been formed under the community policing initiative.

Japan Police strongly believes in community policing (CP) to keep a close connection with citizens

In Pakistan, it is not a new thing. In the past, few initiatives were taken and experiments in this regard were quite encouraging to roll-out community policing on a larger scale. In the past, three worthy and competent police officers, Sarmad Saeed, Wajid Ali and Nasir Durrani, worked on the pilot projects of community policing with significant success.

All three of these could be engaged to further the process of CP in the country, given they hold the first-hand experience in this regard. In the beginning, community policing was initiated by ex-Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) Training Punjab, Mr Sarmad Saeed, in Rahim Yar Khan District, where he was appointed as District Police Officer (DPO) in 2002. During his tenure there, he established 800 community centres and created an engagement of citizens with police by constituting different committees involving the local community and the police. As a result of this initiative, crime reduced by 50 per cent in the district. People appreciated the efforts of police, but unluckily, he got transferred in 2003 and along with his transfer, the chapter of CP also culminated in the district.

Another attempt was made, though briefly, by ex-Inspector General of Police Mr Wajid Ali. He initiated Community Policing Centres (CPCs) in Capital Police Islamabad, and later on in Sindh. As a pilot project in the capital, he had established 10 community centres in 2011. After his transfer though, no major addition was observed in the federal capital in this direction, and rather community policing centres were closed in time. At the same time, when he was transferred to Sindh he immediately started the same project of community policing centres where he established 34 community centres in Karachi. In the second phase, he planned to establish 300 community centres across the province but unfortunately, his journey with Sindh Police came to an end. Community policing centres were closed which were later shifted to Madadgar, 15 of which still exist. Another effort about CP can be seen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where ex-Inspector General of Police Mr Nasir Durrani established 37 Community Policing Forums (CPFs) in different districts of the province. Unfortunately, such initiatives were stopped with conscious efforts by vested interest groups to place barriers in the way of progression and development that was otherwise being achieved through adopting and rolling-out CP.

Having said, the above indicates that apart from individual episodes of passion for improvement and brilliance, in terms of implementation by officers, community policing initiatives lacked effective leadership and focus in the overall sense. These initiatives were not promoted across the country because overall the involved stakeholders have little interest in the development of police for effective policing, and overall better dispensation of law and order, and alleviating the grievances of the public in the country. During the pandemic, the police of many developed countries were able to organise teams of volunteers. In recent times, it has been observed that Islamabad Capital Police has practically taken steps of community policing and organized a system of “police volunteers.” The purpose of such initiative, which comes under community policing, is to engage and involve the local community for making the safety of markets and streets. It is being seen as the best example of community policing during the pandemic so far in the country.

This is the right time for the implementation of community police in the country. Hence, the police leadership should immediately lead from the front because community policing can strengthen relationships with communities, reduce fears in the community, and allow gaining the trust of the public to improve public safety and cooperation among the local community and the police. It is only through proper planning and appropriate financing that will ensure effective policing. Community policing will help in changing the bad perceptions, and CP will help build a much-needed positive image of police in society. It will be a big meaningful and effective step in this direction. Community policing is a philosophy and not a program, and therefore, if philosophy is not understood by all those who are involved then the underlying programs initiated under it will not succeed. Federal and provincial governments should consider the implementation of community policing and consult with the experts of police who have worked on the pilot projects of community policing initiatives in Pakistan. Salam Police!

The writer works voluntarily on Police Reforms in Pakistan and is a member of Pakistan Police Reforms Think Tank (Internet Based). He tweets @AllogeneousJano