LAHORE
Three robbers barge into an ATM in the broad daylight in a big city. They take a citizen hostage at gunpoint and loot cash from him.
The robbers hurl life threats at the victim and flee the scene. The man in desperation calls Rescue 15 thinking he will not receive any quick response and his looted cash will not be recovered. The victim plans to go back home but as he steps towards his vehicle he sees four friendly cops on two heavy bikes clad in attractive uniform and equipped with sophisticated weapons. They take brief information about the dacoits, start chasing them and nab them within no time. The victim gets his snatched cash back and returns home happily.
The aforementioned incident seems to be happened in New York. It actually occurred in Lahore. The cops of newly-established Dolphin Force changed the whole concept of policing in the mind of the victim. Initial interrogation showed the arrested accused persons were involved in a number of incidents of street crime. It is one of the so many incidents reported in Lahore during the last five months in which Dolphin Force acted with functional specialisation.
The Punjab government has been taking several initiatives mostly based on modern technology to change thana culture. Last year, the chief minister impressed by the Law Enforcement Unit named Dolphin Force of Turkish National Police, operating in Istanbul, planned to introduce the Force with the same name in Lahore as a pilot project to counter street crimes. The major objective of the force was to control street crimes through improved emergency response time and enhanced patrolling in crime hot spots.
Master trainers trained the newly-inducted 700 cops for the use of heavy bikes, handling of latest weapons, including berretta pistols and MP-5 rifles. The recruits passed out on March 24 this year.
The Lahorites started discussing the introduction of new force with mixed responses. Some of them were of the view the force would create deterrence against criminals with its latest gadgets and patrolling on streets. The others said it would be another failed project like Mujahid Squad.
The passed out cops showed their presence in the streets of Lahore in April this year. Four cops with a pair of bikes patrolled the streets of Lahore. It attracted so many citizens especially youths with its expensive heavy bikes and Bluetooth-microphone equipped helmets.
SP Dolphin Force Karar Hussain said the major objective of the Force was to control street crimes through patrolling. He added the force had also been improving response time of the Rescue 15 emergency calls. Moreover, the Force has also been serving the concept of community policing by extending help to the citizens in trouble and reuniting lost children with their parents. Dolphin is a symbol of human-friendliness. So is the purpose of this force. At the same time, its presence on roads with latest weapons and bikes started creating dissuasion for criminals. In Turkey, Dolphin Force was established in 1994 to fight street crime. It has been very helpful in fighting against crime in cities having narrow streets and heavy traffic like Istanbul.
The chief minister addressing the recruits during passing-out ceremony had said, the Force would prove itself to be guardian and guide of public. One team of Dolphin Force (DF) consists of four constables on two heavy bikes of 500cc. Presently, 138 teams of DF have been patrolling in six divisions of Lahore Police especially in crime hot spots. They have been performing duties in an eight-hour long shift.
DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf claimed the Force was a success story as it had brought crime rate down during its brief period of launching.
Twenty-five master trainers of Lahore Police got training from their counterparts in Turkey. They returned home and trained 700 selected recruits. The officials of Dolphin Force have been imparted modern physical and mental training. They have also been given behavioural and legal training. So far, the Force has 300 heavy bikes.
SP Karar Hussain talking to The News said they had been monitoring the force under three methods that include physical, documentary and digital monitoring. Through physical monitoring, SP and sector incharge personally brief cops and inspect their gadgets/bikes. He added the documents were cross-checked to minimise the chances of tampering and negligence in duties. Thirdly, the movement and presence of squads is monitored through android phones, trackers, wireless sets and biometric machines. Moreover, a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/dolphinsquadlahore/) has also been created to get feedback of citizens about Dolphin Squads and also to highlight its performance. He also said the response time of DF teams is also being monitored by Punjab Information Technology Board’s (PITB) Robo Call System.
SP Karar said though Dolphin Squad was not present in the entire city so far, the crime analysis of two months after its launch showed 50 percent decrease in street crime as compared to the corresponding period of the last year in April and May. The ratio of crimes increases in the month of Ramazan but the crime rate was decreased by 30 percent as compared to the last year.
Dispelling the concept of its similarity with Mujahid Squad, SP said it was a functional specialised street crime patrolling unit with proper legal cover. He added the seats had been specified for the Force and proper policy and SOPs had been designed to ensure proper implementation of laws. He added Mujahid Squad mount pickets but Dolphins check suspects during patrolling and snap checking. He added they took action against illegal possessors of weapons and drugs dealers instead of checking registration documents of cars and bikes.
DIG Haider Ashraf said he and SP Dolphin Force had been measuring the response time of Dolphins through trackers. He claimed the Dolphins had been responding to the emergency calls in their respective beats within 10 minutes.
The official data shows the Dolphin Force (DF) responded to 8,175 calls of Rescue 15 during patrolling. The squads arrested 47 criminals during patrolling. They checked 190,000 suspected persons, 212,000 vehicles and 211,000 motorcycles during snap checking. The squads of Dolphin also recovered 68 stolen cars, 78 bikes and two bikes with fake number plates. The DF also took action against 60 wheelie-doers especially on the eve of the Independence Day.
During snap checking, the DF impounded 29 suspected vehicles and 93 bikes besides detaining 94 suspicious persons for their identification. They recovered 34 illegal pistols, 290 live bullets, 13 magazines, three rifles, one pump action, one Kalashnikov, 43 cartridges and one dagger. Taking action against drugs peddlers, Dolphins recovered 1,215 gram charas, 217 bottles of wine and 26 canes of liquor. During patrolling, different teams of Dolphin Squad recovered 21 stolen cell phones, Rs111,000 in cash, two watches, gold locket, seven bikes and wire worth Rs40,000. The data also shows the DF arrested two proclaimed offenders, two target offenders and one court absconder since its launch.
The squad has so far changed the concept of letting criminals scot-free by arresting a number of criminals chasing them soon after crime. Through community policing, the DF reunited 31 lost children with their children. It also returned lost valuables to their real owners.
Since its launch, one major incident of bribery has occurred. Four cops had taken bribe from a drugs dealer which was highlighted in the media. The accused officials have been suspended and are under interrogation with the Anti-Corruption Department. SP Dolphin Squad has received only three complaints regarding their attitude, negligence in duties and about their coordination with the local police station.
The construction of a five-storey Dolphin Force headquarters spread over 26 kanals of land on Walton Road is underway. It will be multipurpose premises comprised of MT (Motor-transport) workshop and other facilities. The work on six divisional offices is also underway, including in Sabzazar, Township and Civil Lines.
The Punjab government has dropped the major feature of the project which was the installation of HD cameras on the uniforms of cops to monitor them. DIG Haider said the cameras were very expensive while maintenance of its huge data and availability of high speed internet connection was also a big challenge for this feature. The uniform, which was not selected in accordance with the weather of Lahore, has also been altered with the necessary stuff, the DIG responding to a query said.
The Punjab government has allocated Rs1,192 million for the project. The project comprised of training of 2,400 officials of Dolphin in three phases. At least 700 cops are now at work after completing training in March this year. The department has selected 1,650 new cops to complete the second and third phases of the project. Their training will start in October which will be completed in eight to nine months; 300 more bikes will also be procured for the new recruits. SP Dolphin Force said overall Lahore needs 4,500—5,000 cops and 600 bikes to cover patrolling of entire city.Later on, the project will also be launched in eight big cities of the Punjab province, including Bahawalpur, Multan, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Rawalpindi.