IN a landmark decision to reform police force and discourage corruption at police station level, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have formally delegated the powers of Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) to Station House Officers (SHOs). According to provincial authorities, ministerial staff would soon be posted in police stations to process the account after which all police stations would get a budget.
With this, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first province to give financial autonomy to police stations. Under this arrangement, police stations will no longer be dependent on DPOs or Inspector General of Police for their daily expenditures, as funds will be made available to SHOs directly. Certainly, it is a bold step taken by the provincial government and it will go a long way in checking corruption in police department. Earlier, the SHOs and their lower staff was notorious for fleecing money from accused persons to run daily affairs of police stations including to meet fuel cost of their vehicles. But now as the budget will be made available to police stations, they will not be required to resort to such bad tactics.
However, a genuine change will only be visible when police stations are provided with adequate funds as per their actual requirements. In fact a detailed assessment should be carried out to gauge operational cost of police stations and then funds should be transferred to them accordingly. Anyway this is a step in the right direction to improve performance of police and restore confidence of pubic on the force. Other provinces should follow the suit.
