Police image, capacity building need of the hour

Islamabad : Improvement in image and capacity building of the institution of police is a key initiative to make success out of any reforms made to counter policing issues in the country.

These views were voiced at the first online session on policing issues held Tuesday by the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO), under a pilot project of the Police Awam Saath Saath (PASS), in collaboration with the United States Institute of Policy (USIP), with the parliamentary working group of MNAs and MPAs from Punjab province to introduce reforms in the police department by bringing in modern research mechanisms and making necessary legislation.

The session opened with an SSDO representative presenting police reforms by categorizing them into conceptual, policy and service delivery issues for better understanding and implementation. He explained in detail the constitutional position of policing between federal government and the provinces, the importance of women in policing, evidence-based arrests, mandate-based community policing, as well as the need for digitalization in policing through effective tools.

The session participants noted the foremost obstacle in policing reforms as the imbalance in budgetary allocations between administrative and functional costs that has caused negative effects on the reputation and capacity of the police as an institution.