THE Islamabad Capital Territory Police on Wednesday is sued its fortnightly performance report aimed at informing the general public about its efforts to ensure protection of life and property of the citizens. The report detailed measures taken to resolve grievances of the people and bridge the gap between police and the general public.
The exercise assumes special significance in the backdrop of some recent incidents including the killing of Osama Satti that brought the Capital’s police force in a negative light and distorted its image as a model force. The new Inspector-General of Police, Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman deserves credit for introducing some measures during the last two weeks which send a positive signal to the citizens that he has a strategy to improve policing. His strategy involves aspects like presenting Islamabad Police for accountability, making it a friendly entity and resolving complaints of citizens. The procedure adopted by the IGP (test and interview) for appointment of SHOs and Moharrars is likely to produce desired results provided aptitude and uprightness of the individuals is thoroughly judged on the basis of interview and overall reputation, and service record. Increased face-to-face interaction between police and citizens is the root cause of corrupt practices as police personnel have a tendency to fleece and coerce people on different excuses especially when there is no proper awareness about powers of the police and rights of the citizens. Therefore, transparency demands reducing personal contacts to bare minimum by introducing online systems and eliminating pickets. The possibility of online registration of FIRs on a centralized basis/and different types of certificates and licenses should also be explored. Police personnel need to be sensitized to focus more on growing crime rates especially street crimes than indulging in practices that bring bad name to the force.
