‘Police see success with community policing’

Islamabad : Islamabad Police have involved community in policing affairs and promoted partnerships with its members not merely for addressing crime but also for tackling social disorder and fear of crime.

It was stated by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar while addressing as the chief guest here in the concluding ceremony of International Conference on Community Policing and Post-Conflict Police Reform in Pakistan.

Islamabad police chief said that community policing is broad policing philosophy and law enforcement agencies must strive hard to build relationships with the community members for success.

He said that community policing is a comprehensive approach to addresses the root causes of problem after identifying its symptoms. Community policing is proactive, unlike the reactive nature of traditional policing while six groups including police department, the community, elected officials, the business community, non-profit organisations and media must work together to make this initiative successful.

The IGP said that it helps to enhance community-police relationship, enhance moral of police and reduced fear of crime through valuable information sharing.

Highlighting the steps taken by Islamabad police in this regard, Aamir Zulfiqar said that reconciliation Committees were established under the government policy to ensure friendly policing in capital. There is one committee in each police station and there are total 22 committees working in all police stations with 15 to 22 members from all walks of life.

He said that a total number of 405 members including 362 men and 43 females are included in these committees having sound reputation, qualification and experience in various fields of life. About the jurisdiction of these committees, he said that these had been given power to enquire into non-cognisable of civil nature such as domestic disputes, human right violation, etc.

During the current year, a total number of 197 complaints were referred to these committees of which 136 have been resolved and 61 are pending. These complaints were about family disputes, quarrel, land, business, tenancy and other issues.

To bridge trust gap between police and community, he said that community policing is an effective tool and grievances of the public were being addressed through professional and fair approach. The present government is ensuring every possible support to the police department and Islamabad police have taken reformatory steps in pursuance of the government directions. These steps, he said, included policy of ‘Pehlay Sallam- Pir Kalam’ while front desks have been established in Model Police Stations along with online system for registration of FIRs.

Moreover, he said that beat system has been established within the AOR of police stations and beat officers were deployed in these beats to approach the public in time of emergency.

In order to keep the surveillance of the suspects/criminals in the area, the IGP Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar said that vigilance committees have also been established. The heads of educational institutions, he said, were taken on board by the SHOs to curb the menace of drugs within the educational institutions. Patrolling in the vicinity of such institutions has been enhanced to book the outlaws involved in nefarious business of drugs.

The IGP said that `Open Kutcheris’ are being held regularly by the senior supervisory officers where, the general public is invited to raise their issue and their problems are redressed accordingly. Citizen Service Centre in Sector F-6/1, is functional which is providing services like provision of character certificate, police clearance certificate, loss report, vehicle verification, tenant registration, servant registration, foreigner registration, copy of FIR, volunteer registration, driving learner permit, driving license renewal and report about missing children. He said that Foreigner Facilitation Corner and Special Desk for Overseas Pakistanis have been also established.

In order to redress the complaints of public regarding misbehavior, misconduct and corruption by police, an Internal Accountability Unit (IAU) has been established at Central Police Office (CPO) while a dedicated helpline 1416 has been established for complaints against corruption.