Investigation remains neglected unit of KP Police

PESHAWAR: Ignoring the investigation wing of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police is a major reason behind a poor follow-up to the high-profile cases that are mostly closed with the acquittal of the prime accused, it has been learnt.

An official said there were only 350 cops for investigation of cases in the entire provincial capital where many cases are registered every month.These cops included 202 constables and 50 head constables. On the other hand, the Operations Wing of the Peshawar Police has over 9300 policemen.

“In some police stations, the investigation wing has only four or five cops that includes the chief investigation officer and moharrir. There used to be hundreds of cases to be investigated every month in any police station and it is humanly impossible for four to five cops to properly do the probe,” an official told The News.

The total number of cops in the investigation wing across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is only 1,090. This is the strength of a wing that had to investigate 65,000 cases of different natures, including high-profile crimes, in the last one year.

In the last several years, there were hardly a few officers of the police service of Pakistan posted in the investigation wing as most cops prefer posting in operations and other units which they consider important.

Despite the position of superintendent of police (SP) Investigation in every district was supposed to be occupied by a grade-18 officer, a number of deputy superintendent of police (DSPs) of grade-17 and even inspectors of grade-16 served against the positions in the last two decades due to lack of investigation officers.

The wing also lacked junior officers at the police station level to properly have a follow-up to incidents that affected probes in several cases.Like seniors, junior officers, too, avoid posting in the investigation wing that lacks facilities, incentives and high-profile positions. The wing needs more incentives and better postings to attract senior and junior cops to improve its performance.

Not only the accused in murder, kidnapping, robberies and other crimes could not be convicted due to poor investigation but many terrorism cases also ended up with acquittal of the held accused.A recent report disclosed that the key accused in 195 terrorism cases were acquitted for poor investigation by the police and Counter-Terrorism Department.

According to the chief of the investigation department of the KP Police, over 65,000 cases were probed by his unit in the last one year.“We need around 500 investigation officers as well as expert evidence collectors all over KP to improve the investigation of cases. We only have eight evidence collection units in the province,” Muhammad Alam Shinwari, the additional inspector general of Investigation KP, told The News.

The official said the force needed a more modern scientific laboratory while the present one is also under staff and lacks modern equipment.The government had planned to establish one such lab but work is yet to be started due to lack of funds.

Also, the wing needs the latest technology at the police station and district level and training for investigators across the province, including the former tribal districts.“We are going to revamp the investigation wing of the capital city police along with posting more seasoned officers to improve its performance,” said the Capital City Police Officer Qasim Ali Khan.

He had suggested posting an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general to lead the investigation wing of Peshawar who should be assisted by competent and senior deputies at different levels, including the police station, for properly probing the registered cases.

“There needs to be more IT initiative to digitize investigation files in progress with having a link to all pillars of the criminal justice system,” an official said.

In 2022, 995 positions were sought for the investigation wing of the KP Police to overcome the shortage of manpower and expedite the probe in thousands of cases. The wing is still short of officers to expedite probes in cases.

Though the population of the district has increased significantly in the last two decades, the resources as well as strength of police, especially at the police station level, have hardly increased over the period.