Govt urged to recruit young DSPs in KP Police

PESHAWAR
As there seems no end to the years long shortage of senior police officers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some seasoned officials have suggested that the province should induct more young but well-trained officers as deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) and give them proper service structure.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police is so short of senior officers that most of the senior-level positions, right from grade-17 to grade-21, are filled by shoulder-promoted officers or by juniors on acting charge basis for the last many years.
The provincial government authorities have written to the federal government on a number of occasions to declare the province ‘hard area’ so that senior officers spend their mandatory period in KP and the shortage at senior level is overcome. However, the province is yet to get positive response from the federal government.
The situation at the sub-divisional level is the worst as majority of the sub-divisional police officers (SDPOs) are inspectors, elevated either from the rank of constable or assistant sub-inspector (ASI).
Same is the situation at the SPs level where a large number of shoulder-promoted officers are posted due to lack of senior cops.
“Some of these SPs and SDPOs have shown extraordinary performance in countering crime and militancy but the majority used to be dependent on taking instructions from their seniors and can’t take initiative on their own like the assistant superintendents of police (ASPs) of the Police Service of Pakistan PSPs,” a senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said.
The ASPs, however, make hardly a few percent of the total number of SDPOs.
“The only solution to the situation would be to recruit DSPs through the provincial Public Service Commission (PCS) like that in the past. They must be given a proper structure under which they can go to grade-20 or 21, but their promotion is 20 percent slower than PSPs to acknowledge the latter’s supremacy,” suggested the official.
The official added that under the 18th Amendment, policing is a provincial subject and KP should find out solution to the shortage of officers on its own. He said the share of the PSPs and PCS in senior grades can be adjusted by forming a committee.
“The committee should also give proper share in grade-17 and 18 to those who have been recruited as ASIs or constables but want to progress on the basis of performance and talent,” said the official.
Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani has already approved a fast track promotion policy for the junior cops on the basis of their performance.
“On recruitment, the DSPs must be imparted better training like that of PSPs so they can play an important role as SDPOs and later SPs. The previous mistake of not giving proper structure, however, needs to be corrected so that they have their promotions properly,” said the official.
He added that there seems no other solution to the shortage of cops in the province now persisting for many years. He suggested that after getting around a dozen DSPs every year, the situation will improve at the district and sub-divisional level within a few years.
“As some PSPs argue, if the province cannot recruit officials in grade-17, inspectors in grade-16 can be recruited who, after a few years, can prove to be better SDPOs and SPs,” the official said.
Like other provinces, KP had recruited three batches of DSPs in the last 27 years. Fourteen officers were recruited in 1988 and 12 in 1990 while nine DSPs were recruited after a long gap in 2001.
The PCS and PSP officers, however, are at loggerheads for many years over the issue of promotion of the former. Some PCS officers, known for honesty and better administration all over KP, got only one grade promotion, from grade-17 to grade-18, even after serving for 25 long years. Recently, some PCS officers while complaining of injustice in encadrement have refused to be encadred as PSPs, demanding quota for the provincial officers like that of the civil bureaucracy and Azad Jammu and Kashmir Police.
The PCS officers have also forwarded a case to the chief minister for allotment of provincial quota in all senior grades like that of other PCS groups. The provincial government has already constituted a special committee headed by the Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR) and comprising of the secretaries of Home, Law, Establishment and Finance departments to settle the longstanding issue.
“A constable recruited in BPS-5 has chances to rise to BPS-17, a career progression of 12 scales, whereas Probationer ASIs (BPS-9) can rise to BPS-18 during their career (a career progression of 9 scales). Contrary to that, PCS officers can hardly be promoted to BPS-19 as their promotion rules and regulations are manipulated by the federal government,” was the crux of the presentation.