Pakistan Police | News Discussions

[Argus Panoptes]

The problems were identified and exposed thirty years ago...

..........

Sir, these are not problems. These are features by design. After all, a system always produces the results it is designed to produce, and by that yardstick our police is working just fine.

 

[fatman17]

Leaving policing to the professional is a great concept, but the direct and constant meddling by politicians and bureaucrats at all levels makes it impossible. Our police are primarily a tool to suppress and control the general population at the behest of those in charge, and therefore not available as a tool of social justice.

why does the motorway police work bcuz it reports to the ministry of communications. the reporting lines of the police need to be changed from the current to a workable system similar to the MP.

what you are saying is that we cant change the current system which is self defeating....all the article is asking is to give it a try and then persevere with it....thats all.

 

[That Guy]

Is this even a good idea? There are more cons then pros if the pakistani police is empowered. More bribes will be taken. More innocent people can get framed and human right abuses in jail cells.

They should focus on empowering the firemen of pakistan.

If the suggestions are implemented, then yes, it is most certainly a good idea. I have my doubts too, but if these are implemented, the bribery, false imprisonment, and various other problems with the police will shrink considerably.

The problem is that the police force has not been allowed to mature, as other police forces around the world have. They've almost always been sidelined by the military in situations that the police should be doing. For example, anti-terrorist operations should be handled by a police anti-terrorism task-force, but we constantly see the military get involved in such affairs (not as much as before, but it's still pretty bad).

Personally speaking, I think all police officers should be required to train with the military for one year, before joining the force. This way, they can be filled with discipline and respect for the chain of command. We'd also see the local population start showing their faith in the police force...

...but it's not gonna happen, at least not for a while.

Sir, these are not problems. These are features by design. After all, a system always produces the results it is designed to produce, and by that yardstick our police is working just fine.

not totally true, when a police force disregards the rule of law, then it's not a problem with the design, but the problem lies within the ones that are constituted to implement the design.

Remember, a bad workman always blames his tools.

 

[Argus Panoptes]

why does the motorway police work bcuz it reports to the ministry of communications. the reporting lines of the police need to be changed from the current to a workable system similar to the MP.

what you are saying is that we cant change the current system which is self defeating....all the article is asking is to give it a try and then persevere with it....thats all.

The motorway police with its good performance functions by design, although it is fraying a bit too as reports of highway robberies at night in the Salt Range increase. The conventional police with is horrible performance is also by design, Sir. Those who benefit from keeping the police as their own subservient force also know that all these things the report says can be tried and it will improve the performance. But my point is that they do not want to. Why would they give up such powers, when the present system is working well for them?

The report is correct in its suggestions and intent, but the will to implement it is simply not there.

 

[A1Kaid]

this would remove the use of the army in internal security matters and lessen their undue influence.

Good point, when army soldiers are used to play police in public streets it can lower the esteem and standard of the troops--however there is specialized military police. Soldiers are for war and military purposes and not policing the public. The Interior Ministry should have a nationalized police force providing security throughout out Pakistan. Police budget should also increase and better training and education to the police officers. Police academies have to be improved in order for this to happen.

 

[UmarJustice]

Punjab Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that modern technology will be fully utilised for curbing crime and rooting out criminal elements as a number of countries of the world have controlled crime in this manner.
He said that there is a need for Punjab Police to devise an effective system of curbing crime by adopting modern technology and the proposed project of Punjab Police Integrated Command and Control Center is of vital importance in this regard. He said that the implementation of this project will not only rid the people of thana culture but will also transform traditional police culture.
The Chief Minister directed that measures should be taken expeditiously for setting up of modern Integrated Command and Control System on the pattern of Istanbul, London and Dubai. He was presiding over a high level meeting at Model Town on Thursday which reviewed the proposed project of Punjab Police Integrated Command and Control System. Provincial Minister Col. (Retd) Shuja Khanzada, Chief Secretary, Secretary Home, acting Inspector General Police Punjab, Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board and concerned officials were present.
An international expert Dr. Amanat who has received training from Britain gave a briefing to the meeting regarding Integrated Command and Control System.
The CM said that there is a need to utilise modern technology for controlling crime and progress should be made expeditiously in this direction so that police force could be introduced with the latest technology for curbing crime and maintaining law and order.
He said that intelligence sharing system could be improved through the use of modern technology. He said that the proposed project of Command and Control Center will not only help root out criminal elements but will also enable monitor the performance of Police officials and their behaviour with the citizens.
He said that all out measures will be taken for changing thana culture. He said that government is committed to provide justice to the people and transformation of thana culture is necessary for this purpose. He said that revolutionary measures will be taken for redressing the grievances of the aggrieved persons in police stations. He said that government has made a promise to the people of changing thana culture which will be honored at any cost and the proposed project of setting up Integrated Command and Control Center is a step in this direction.
He said that this modern center will bring about a substantial change in the traditional police culture. He stressed that Command and Control Center should be state-of-the-art and the project should be evolved, keeping in view the needs and ground realities. He said that Command and Control Center will be set up at Arfa Karim Software Technology Park.
He said that Command and Control Center will be started as a pilot project and its scope will later be expanded. The Chief Minister directed the committee, set up under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister Col. (Retd.) Shuja Khanzada, to submit comprehensive recommendations after consulting all stakeholders.
He directed Dr. Amanat to present the design of the Command and Control Center Project within a month.
The meeting also reviewed various proposals regarding speedy implementation of the proposed project.

Modern technology for curbing crime, says Shahbaz

 

[Gentelman]

police need modranization and freedom from political pressure and merit…
they need air survillance,armour and advanced cars with support likr GPS etc……

 

[Jazzbot]

The first step should be to depoliticize police department and make it an autonomous body. Without doing this, everything is useless and will go down the drain..

 

[Jungibaaz]

The first step should be to depoliticize police department and make it an autonomous body. Without doing this, everything is useless and will go down the drain..

Absolutely.

That would do wonders, and it could be achieved without spending a penny.
but do we really think PMLN will let go of Punjab police?

 

[Jazzbot]

Absolutely.

That would do wonders, and it could be achieved without spending a penny.
but do we really think PMLN will let go of Punjab police?

Zara si num ho to ye matti bohat zar-kaiz hy..

There are still lots of real gems inside our police department, so if they only provide them proper weaponry and give them free hand, they can still give us drastic results. But N-League ain't gonna do anything about it. Goons who came into power after using Police, Patwaries, Teachers and Clerks won't ever let go their control over these departments. Things change when people change. Those who brought things to this low level in 2 decades are gonna fix them now? Never gonna happen, just expect a few gimmicks to make PML-N do hooo haaa at tv shows, nothing else..

 

[jhonjames]

Female police officers, representing four provinces, gathered to ... approaches to supporting and empowering Pakistan's female police forces.

 

[fatman17]

Hurt Locker: Pakistan's struggling bomb disposal unit

Reuters


PESHAWAR: A technician from Pakistan's top bomb disposal unit packed some aging detonator cord confiscated from the Taliban into a plastic water bottle and reached for a roll of sticky tape.

With his low-cost, improvised — and extremely dangerous — device he demonstrated how he destroys militant bombs, but also revealed desperate shortages of money and equipment for bomb disposal experts.

Twelve years into the war on militancy, Pakistan's police are chronically under-funded. This year's federal budget gave the military about $6 billion and the police $686 million, a lopsided allocation mirrored in the disbursement of foreign aid.

While the United States has given Pakistan about $30 billion since 2001, the police have got a tiny fraction compared with the military. A little of that reached the country's top police bomb disposal unit in the city of Peshawar.

Peshawar, the historic gateway to the Khyber Pass and Afghanistan, has been a target of the militants time and again.

The city's bomb squad has defused more than 5,000 devices since 2009, from child suicide bombers to big trucks packed with explosives. Shafqat Malik has led the unit for four years.

“When I joined, we just had a few wire clippers,” Malik said as he patted a panting Labrador, one of the unit's sniffer dogs.

Technicians would poke at bombs with six-foot-long sticks to try to defuse them, he said.


Now, Malik's unit has 10 sniffer dogs, 20 bomb-disposal suits and four remote-controlled bomb-disposal robots from Britain. The United States donated vehicles and investigative kits. Both countries have trained Pakistani officers.

But it doesn't stretch far. Two of Pakistan's four provinces suffer almost daily bombings. District-level bo mb units have little training and almost no equipment.

Shortages mean members of Malik's squad often fall back on improvised equipment or material seized from the Taliban, although it's often old or unstable.

Zero Budget

Between defusing bombs, Malik's 38-man squad is supposed to secure VIPs, the courts, churches, police headquarters, government offices and airports, any rallies or high-profile funerals and foreign missions. They also investigate blasts, testify in court and train new officers.

During the week, Malik sleeps in his office, underneath a “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster from friends at Scotland Yard. A flamboyant figure often in the news, he is frequently filmed standing in plain clothes next to officers defusing bombs in protective suits.

“It helps calm them down,” he said, grinning. When one officer defused a boy wearing a suicide-bomb vest, Malik rushed over to embrace the child. The press thought he was hugging the 12-year-old, Malik said, but he was actually searching for the trigger wire the nervous technician had forgotten to cut.

His officers have intercepted bombs smuggled into courts in computers and bombs mailed to senior policemen in diaries. But hundreds are missed. At least 139 people were killed in Peshawar over a recent eight-day spell, in attacks on a market, a bus and a church.

The squad's main problem is that they only get basic police salaries and there is no structure for promotion. Without danger pay to entice more men to train as bomb technicians, 70 per cent of 130 positions are vacant. The job is dangerous: a dozen men have been killed in the last five years.


They are hard to replace. Malik says bomb technicians need 10 years of policing, rock-steady nerves and special training.

Nearly a quarter of his 38 men will hit 60 and retire next year. Others will leave for better positions. One man says he is resigning to work as a bomb disposal expert in Dubai, where salaries are better and the danger lower.

“We have zero budget,” said Malik, watching a skinny officer struggle into a heavy protective suits and stagger out during a demonstration. “You have to be a madman to do this job.”

Police Neglected

The neglect of Peshawar's shrinking bomb disposal unit reveals a wider problem: vital law enforcement agencies are starved of resources, training and responsibility.

Most money pours into the military, although a 2008 Rand study, “How Terrorist Groups End”, found police action ended 40 per cent of 268 groups studied and military action accounted for seven percent. Most of the rest ended in a deal.

But the police, often criticised as incompetent and corrupt, get a small fraction of foreign, mostly US., security aid.

As a consequence, police are under-equipped and poorly trained. Most cannot secure a crime scene and often miss forensic evidence.

After a blast in a Peshawar suburb last year, police at the scene accepted residents' explanation that a gas cylinder had gone off. But when Malik arrived he found a single sliver of shrapnel from a mortar bomb.

He ordered a search. Police found 117 bombs under a pile of manure along with 65 kg of military-grade explosives. Untrained officers had missed the clue.


The government can only stamp out attacks if it invests in the police, said Samina Ahmed, head of the Islamabad office for the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"The police have been starved of resources and authority for so long it's not surprising they find it hard to do their job, even when they are allowed to," she said.

The provincial government responsible for Peshawar said the police got $224 million this year, in addition to federal funds, and a spokesman said the police would get whatever resources they needed. Authorities were discussing more sniffer dogs and even closed-circuit television cameras, he said.

Despite such assurances, police say they have become demoralized since the new government was elected in May. Officials are deliberating over talks with the militants, leaving officers unsure of strategy.

Most disappointing of all, political leaders no longer attend the funerals of senior police killed in the line of duty, said one officer who declined to be identified.

"In my mobile phone are two dozen people who are dead. I can't delete them," he said angrily. "These politicians can't even be bothered to honour their deaths."

But the bomb unit struggles on. After militants raided a jail in July and freed 250 prisoners, Malik and his men defused 37 bombs and a suicide bomber the gunmen left behind.

"You know the Hurt Locker?" Malik asked, referring to the Oscar-winning film about a US bomb technician. "It's the Hurt Locker every day here."

 

[FalconsForPeace]

Police provide the first line of defence in society. In a city like Karachi, this function assumes much greater and challenging dimensions. By targeting police officials, terrorists and criminals can easily degrade and demoralise this force. The deadly mix of organised crime, politically patronised gangs, their nexus with militancy and bureaucracy, has turned Karachi into a boiling cauldron, where 2,507 people lost their lives to various forms of violence in 2013. This also exposes law-enforcement agencies to daunting challenges, more so the police, which are the primary source of prevention, protection, pursuit and prosecution.

As many as nine casualties, including Chaudhry Aslam; in the first nine days of 2014 explain the hazards of the environment in which the Karachi police operate. During 2013, police fatalities reached a staggering 166, up from 122 in 2012. This represents a three-fold increase compared with 2011, when about 53 cops fell in various operations.

Police losses in Karachi also provide an alarming indicator of rapid deterioration since 1992; in the 18 years until 2010, for instance, the police lost about 250 personnel, an average of roughly 14 a year. But the annual average since 2011 has jumped to 114.

One can count several reasons for these losses; they mostly result not only from the continuous nature of crime and militancy in Karachi, but also from non-state outfits. The dwindling effectiveness of the police also stems from the fact that in a polarised city such as Karachi, collective interests of politics, bureaucracy, militancy and organised crime far outweigh the capacity of police, which are hamstrung by many factors.

Firstly, the deputation of roughly 20 per cent of the police force for protocol/ VVIP duty adversely affects an already extremely poor citizen-police ratio in a city with a bulging population, spiralling crime and militant politics.

The enormity of organisational and operational problems can be gauged from the fact that despite arrests of roughly 12,000 suspects since the launch of the clean-up operation a few months ago, crime and terrorism continue to plague the city. Even though paramilitary authorities claim to have rounded up scores of target killers and members of various criminal gangs, hardly any long-term solution is in sight because of the limited investigation and prosecution capacity of the state.

Secondly, poor means of communication, such as unfit vehicles, absence or lack of life vests, bullet-proof jackets, as well as a limited number of armoured vehicles put a poorly trained police at a disadvantage.

Thirdly, officials of a largely politicised force often find it difficult to go after elements which may have links to their benefactors or mentors.

Fourth, the police — despite being strong on paper — suffer from a bad image, tainted by charges of massive and blatant corruption, as well as abuse of authority. Intellectual limitations, i.e., insufficient education in law and rights represents another deficit.

This perception of the police requires a massive corrective intervention. A recently launched capacity and image-building initiative by the Sindh government probably also stems from the realisation that the police need to be ‘retooled’. Being executed with funding from the German government, this initiative aims to help improve the public image of the Sindh Police.

At least verbally, most politicians agree on the need for the revision of the police laws of 1861 in order to reform the police, both intellectually as well as administratively. People at large need to push their representatives for reforms. This capacity-building initiative can also help reduce the trust between the citizen and the police.

Without drastic reform, the police cannot really function as society’s first line of defence.

Police: First line of defence? – The Express Tribune

 

[RescueRanger]

Should be posted in Pakistan's War section. And the first line of defense for any nation are it's citizens!

 

[VCheng]

Should be posted in Pakistan's War section. And the first line of defense for any nation are it's citizens!

Isn't that the same as "leaving the citizens to fend for themselves"?