Streamlining Pakistani Police Force

Aslam Pervaiz Abro
Shikarpur, Sindh
June 28, 2009

Just a day before the arrival of dreaded long march spearheaded by Nawaz Sharif, the Federal Government issued a notification on 15 March 2009 to raise the salaries of Islamabad police, giving them lucrative incentives and other perks. On 16 April Chief Minister of the Punjab also made a similar announcement to increase the salaries of the Punjab Police. The domino effect of these commendable announcements pervaded to rest of the provinces with NWFP CM announcing to double the salaries of provincial police. The Prime Minister in his recent visit to Karachi also declared that salaries of Sindh police would be equalized to that of Punjab Police.

This has brought about instantaneous jubilations and exuberance among police officials since their long awaited demand-cum-desire has been/would be fulfilled. It is axiomatic that salary of police is incommensurate to the services they render risking their lives to secure the safety of public. Ask a policeman patrolling the highway at midnight whether it is raining or freezing cold, you will learn how tough his job is. The fundamental objectives of increase in the wages of police are to boost their morale, minimize the chances of corruption, and ensure their commitment to the profession to yield maximum output. Now the question arises: will the sole supplement in remunerations and perks achieve these goals? Though it is a step towards the right direction, still a lot needs to be done to streamline the functioning of police force.

It is unfortunate that that our police are one of the world’s most corrupt civilian forces. Chiefly due to corruption and malpractice, the police do not have a decent image in the eyes of a common man. The victim either requires to grease the palms of SHO or apply the influence of a politician just to lodge a FIR. Corruption and politics are institutionalized in the department, devouring it like termite. From District Police Officer to SHO/PP incharge, the postings are politically motivated. The SHO has to make corruption not only for himself but also to supply the booty to his seniors. Some times a DPO claims to be honest and does not accept corruption money from his SHO, but he targets government funds and budget which he shows to have consumed on paper with practical nothingness. Where a policeman is accustomed to hundreds thousands of rupees of corruption money, can a mere increase of few thousands in his legitimate wages wean him away from extortion? It is not likely to uproot his propensity to corruption.

The kind of training imparted to the police officials is a practical joke. Still the firearm training is given with old and outdated rifles. Majority of the police training centres where officials from the rank of constable to inspector are trained, exist since the colonial period with same infrastructure, equipments and training methodology with subsequent minuscule changes. There have been several incidents where the criminals outplayed the trained policeman, i.e. attack on Sri Lankan cricketers expose police’s professionalism when they were being killed like ducks by the terrorists. Discipline in the police force is too lax, almost extinct.

Intelligence aspect of policing remains pathetically neglected. There is apathy among the police officials to get posted to District Information Branch since it is not a lucrative place to work in. Those who are posted there by order seldom remain on duty; hence it is out of question to keep a watch on the movement and activities of suspected persons.

Having raised their pay it is now imperative that there should be strict check & balance, proper auditing of police funds, and most importantly separation of politics from the department and posting of the DIGs, DPOs & SHOs on merit. As long as corruption and politics are there, it is fruitless to expect police to work well. A serious attention should also be given to training of policeman. These days the terrorist and criminals possesses such lethal and sophisticated weapons that our policemen may not have even seen. The training centres should be upgraded. Apart from basic training and promotion course, the department should organize training workshops and courses to enhance the professionalism of police officials.

Information and intelligence aspect of policing should be accorded due importance. The information collected from different sources should be carefully analyzed and given to operation wing to forestall the crime. The entire police department is in disarray and needs overhauling to put it on right track, but raising of salaries is indubitably a move to right direction.

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The Editor