Time to reform the police force

PESHAWAR: Despite claims of reforms in the force in recent years, the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and rest of the country still need much improvement to treat everyone, particularly the innocent people, with respect.

A number of reforms were introduced in the KP Police since 2013 that helped improve its performance. For a couple of years, the dealing with the public also improved while the level of corrupt practices and misuse of power went down to the lowest when a large number of cops were sacked and thousands were punished. But things have started deteriorating again. Some criticized the reforms were cosmetic that is why things deteriorated again while others believed the decrease in actions against the senior and junior cops involved in corrupt practices in recent years was the reason for increasing complaints of misuse of power by police.

There were complaints of involvement of cops in criminal activities in recent years. Besides, complaints increased about the poor treatment of accused and innocent people in the lock-ups, the humiliation of public at check posts and even at their homes during search operations. Political parties and tribesmen have recently staged protests, alleging police and Counter-Terrorism Department have killed innocent people in fake encounters. And then the incident of humiliation of a young man and filming the entire episode happened in the police station in Tehkal.

Many believe this might not be the only incident and humiliation and torture of people happen in most of the lock-ups. In some areas, this situation has led to the visits of political people to the police stations to keep a check on the situation, which can also result in more political interference in the affairs of the force.

All this started happening when incompetent officials were posted to head police stations and subdivisions. There are cops who might be brave in raids and actions against criminals but they proved to be poor managers when posted to head a police station, a subdivision or a division. Some of the cops when appreciated and unduly supported by the senior officials immediately start misusing power, earning bad name for the force instead of helping improve law and order.

This is the failure of the bosses if they can’t post SHOs and SDPOs on merit. These bosses claim the credit for anything good but hold the SHOs responsible when things are not in favour. Similarly, it is the failure at the top level if regional and district police officers are not posted on merit who can’t keep a check on police stations and police posts. Many believe the bosses must be more careful in postings at the police station level and post officers on merit to maintain law and order and at the same time deal public with respect.

In many police stations, the basic unit of the force that directly deals with the public, a common man is never welcomed with a smile, instead, everyone is treated like a criminal. For these cops, everyone out of the force is a suspect.

This unit needs reforms the most. A station house officer assisted by a head constable, or in some cases an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) as moharir, runs the entire police station for 24 hours.

There used to be one additional SHO and one or two assistant moharirs, normally constables. Since moharir is literally the deputy of the SHO and is to perform duty round-the-clock, there should be educated and senior officers at least of the rank of sub-inspectors (SIs) appointed so they can better take decisions and assist the SHO or act as head of the police station in his absence.

A number of experiments were made in the past, including the appointment of assistant superintendent of police (ASPs) as SHOs in a few police stations in the past. Later, the investigation was separated from the operational police by appointing its own SHO or in-charge investigation. The experiments did not work well for long. Most issues at the police station exist because the matriculated or intermediate passed officials are not competent enough to run the affairs of their stations or provide justice to the people without bothering them in one or the other way.

They need to be better trained in lower, intermediate and upper courses how to decently deal public at the police station, check post or during search operations. Many are humiliated in search operations and raids. Many experts believe the SHOs must be educated officials who are posted purely on merit while keeping in view their the previous record, while moharir should also be a graduate SI who can better perform the duty as acting SHO in the absence of his boss.

There used to be many SIs and ASIs who performed general duty in any police station. In case there are SIs appointed as moharir, head of the investigation, head of patrolling, and head of operational matters, the SHO can be spared to do overall supervision within the existing strength and resources.

A few years ago, moharirs were appointed in some regions through a proper test after seeking applications from all those interested cops to ensure merit as well as opportunity to those who believe they had been ignored.

This process should be applied in Peshawar and all other districts to get better options, both for SHOs and moharirs, as well as provide equal opportunity to all. The language of the first information report (FIR) is another issue that can be fixed with a little effort.

The old typical style of writing the FIR is no more required at any level. In Punjab, not only the FIR is written in simple language but is also composed on the computer so everyone can easily read and understand it and get a copy. The system of lodging the FIR also needs improvement so that the lives of people are not ruined by lodging of false cases against them by rivals.

Experts suggested that in some cases, if not all, there must be a proper inquiry conducted before lodging the FIR against anyone so the life of an innocent person is not ruined by implicating them in fake cases. The bosses of the force can better introduce a system in which FIR can be delayed for some time after lodging a roznamcha to go for an inquiry first.

Women Desks were set up at some police stations in the past. However, most of these desks are normally of no or little use. Instead of keeping the policewomen in the women police station that didn’t register a single FIR in over two decades, the officers and constables should be assigned to each police station by setting up proper Women Desks, at least during the daytime.