Multan Police introduce online FIR registration system

MULTAN: In an attempt to switch over to E-policing and automation of police record, the Multan Range Police have launched a pilot project offering online registration of complaints.
The complaints may lodge their complaints online from their homes, offices or net cafes, without visiting police stations or appearing before ‘munshis’ or ‘muharrars’.
The civil society also suggested the Multan Range police to introduce mobile complaint cell for national and international citizens of Pakistan and complaint registration by sending an SMS to a specific number. Journalist bodies have complained about police inefficiency as the Range police are introducing an online complaint system.
Multan is the first district in remote southern Punjab that has computerised the record of all police officers and police stations and got complaints on record through short message service about the investigation process of their cases.
The Range police have declared the Multan Cantonment as a model police station for introducing electronically automated online system with the FIR Management Information System. The duty staff will be available in casual dress at the reception to entertain the public. The Station House Officers’ office hours have been mentioned on a board hanging in front of the Cantonment Model Police Station.
“The online Cantonment Model Police Station will be fully functional soon as work has been in progress. The online complaint system would be extended to whole Police Range including Multan, Lodhran, Khanewal and Vehari,” RPO Tariq Masud Yasin told The News during his visit on Tuesday.
The Range Police IT officials said the online system would create a database of criminals, files of cases to overcome mismanagement in police operations and manual record, flawed investigation etc. The RPO said there had been complaints about police reluctance to register FIRs. An online system eliminates any such problem, as now any person can visit the police website and lodge an FIR.
Earlier, the online FIR registration system has been introduced in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The News has learnt that at least 1,277 complaints had been registered online in Peshawar police in two days soon after launching of the system. However, most of complaints were not found authentic. Only 70 complaints could be found genuine due to flaws in the system.
A senior official said people mat attempt to register false FIRs against their opponents and the online complaint system should adopt a mechanism to avoid registration of such complaints.
A retired DSP and practicing lawyer Safdar Nazir said it is vital that the public has trust and confidence in police because police cannot perform duties without this. Meanwhile, senior journalists complained that the city police have failed to take action in a hit-and-run case. Bahauddin Zakariya University police Chowki in-charge Sub-Inspector Kalim Chohan had hit a journalists’ car and fled the spot while hurling threats. The event was reported in all newspapers.