Policemen in capital start using body cams to gain public trust

Islamabad : The personnel of Islamabad Police have started using body cams, which would capture images of law enforcement encounters with citizens and to help increasing public confidence on policemen.

Following the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Islamabad police is being equipped with modern technology to ensure effective policing and efforts are underway to make it role model for other law enforcement agencies.

As a sequel of steps towards modern policing, five body cams have been provided to the policemen performing duties at police pickets. These cams would be linked with Safe City project and to record the talks between policemen and citizens during interaction.

Inspector General of Police Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan along with Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) Waqar Uddin Syed met with Minister for Interior Syed Ijaz Shah and briefed him about the functioning of police uniform cameras. It was told that Islamabad police had purchased 10 body cams from its own resources of which five cams had been provided to cops performing duties at pickets after training.

The best thing about police uniform cameras is that they would capture images of law enforcement encounters even in night with members of the public, including suspects, witnesses and passersby. The recordings will help keep all parties honest and allow them to gain some confidence in one another, knowing that anything anyone says about the interaction can later be verified.

These cameras have been connected with Safe City Project while several complaints about policemen especially serving at police pickets would be automatically resolved. The record of these cameras would be kept on daily basis with office of Zonal Superintendent of Police. The remaining five cams would be provided to the policemen within two days after completion of their training.

The IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar khan said more cameras would be provided in next stage to all policemen performing duties at police picket and also to patrolling officers and duty officers of police stations. He hoped that this initiative would help to ensure Islamabad safe city further.

Minister for Interior Syed Ijaz Shah appreciated this unique step of Islamabad police and said that such technology should be introduced at level of police station. He said that it would help to address public complaints about attitude of policemen and curb the corrupt practices.

Islamabad police chief said that Islamabad police would be known soon as model police force at national and international level through effective policing measures.

Meanwhile, the citizens have also lauded the efforts of IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar khan towards successful policing.