Public support needed to prevent crime and terrorism: IGP

A seminar titled “Challenges Faced by Police and Journalists in the Digital Era” was organised by the Sindh police with the Crime Reporters Association.

The seminar was held at the Driving Licence Branch Clifton on Tuesday. Sindh IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon, Additional IG Karachi Javed Alam Odho, DIGs, SSPs, ASPs, Crime Reporters Association President Shahid Anjum, general secretary and members, along with senior journalists and police officers and spokespersons participated in large numbers.

IGP Memon thanked the journalist community, their representative organisation CRA and all the police officers who participated in the seminar. He said that apart from field interaction, there should be collaboration with the media. “You belong to a sector whose job is to keep the public informed,” he said and added that there is a need to minimize negative perception in whatever news is there. The media conveys the public’s narrative to the police, public support and cooperation are needed to prevent crime and terrorism, and strengthening the criminal justice system is the need of the hour, he remarked.

The provincial police chief said whatever projects we have started are meant to improve the criminal justice system. The job of the police is to collect evidence and present it in court and success in convicting an accused means preventing other accused from committing crimes, he said.

Patience is needed in conveying any news to the public and coming together on this platform today means that the police and the media are by each other’s side, he said.

The IGP was of the view that the criminal justice system will have to be strengthened together, which will undoubtedly ensure exemplary punishments for the accused.

Police stations have been made autonomous with a direct budget, eleven thousand recruits are undergoing training, while work is underway on the next fifteen thousand, he noted. IGP Memon said efforts are being made to reduce the duty time to eight hours and recruitment is being done transparently and on merit in every respect. Moreover, he said, it has become necessary to jointly formulate a code of conduct. Media appreciation boosts the morale of the police.