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Thursday March 28, 2024

KP police demand Rs 2.18b for improving crime investigation

By Javed Aziz Khan
March 19, 2020

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have sent a summary to the Chief Minister Mahmood Khan for allocation Rs 2.180 billion in the coming financial budget as cost of the investigation to effectively probe the incidents of crimes, a source told The News.

The source said the KP Police had asked the government to release Rs 500 million during the current year as the grant to improve the investigation function. “In the current financial year, a budget of Rs 200.9 million has been allocated by the Finance Department for investigation whereas the total number of crimes in the province is 152,209. It means only Rs 1,320 for investigation of one crime which is highly insufficient,” disclosed a summary sent to the chief minister by the Inspector General of Police Sanaullah Abbasi.

The summary stated that the investigation is an important component of any criminal justice system. The quality of investigation depends heavily upon the budget allocated to investigation. “The investigation staff attempts to carry out the investigation to the best of their abilities but this low cost of investigation per case hampers their performance and adversely affects the quality of investigation of cases,” the summary added.

The KP Police authorities in the summary explained the investigation of every case requires the collection of evidence, forensic analysis and the arrest of the accused. “The last time the KP government revised the cost of the investigation was in 2007 and the inflation since then has reduced the real value of the amount sanctioned for each case to a great extent. “The KP police have conducted an extensive exercise to realistically revise the cost of investigation taking into account the requirement in every case according to which the force needs at least Rs 2.18 billion to meet the requirements of the investigation wing,” the source quoted from the summary sent to the provincial chief executive.

The summary added that the drawing and disbursing officers may be allowed to draw 50 per cent of the budget in advance on a quarterly basis calculated on the basis of the average number of crimes committed in any police station in given months based upon the past year trend. It is widely believed that the poor investigation of different cases results in the release of accused of many cases including that of terrorism, murder, kidnapping and other heinous crimes. The current administration has asked the government to increase the funds for the investigation wing to improve the standard of the investigation so that those arrested for the heinous crimes are convicted by the courts. It is to be mentioned here that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recently issued a notification declaring the station house officers of operations and investigation of any police station as drawing and disbursing officers of their respective police stations. The police stations would get funds directly to take care of their expenses including the cost of the investigation and other official matters. Previously, the SHOs used to get the cost of investigation as well as all the funds through the district police officers and police lines. Most of the SHOs used to complain of not getting funds in time, forcing them to arrange for it from ‘own resources’.