Another patrolling force that goes by the name of Dolphin Squad is out in the streets of Lahore with a renewed pledge -- to control street crime in the capital city of Punjab.

The squad, a replica of Istanbul’s more than two decades old patrolling police, is meant to help reduce street crime in the thickly populated city. The mega city, with more than 10 million estimated population, according to official figures, reports more than 4,000 thefts, robberies and dacoities on average in a year.

The Dolphin Force, comprising of new and young recruits of the Punjab police, started functioning in Lahore as a lead project in the end of March this year. The plan of the force was made in 2014. Special teams were sent to Istanbul to study the model. The hired recruits, apart from one year training, were also taught by the Turkish police officers for six months.

According to some media reports, in 2014, as many as 24,960 cases were registered in the province that rose to 28,255 in 2015.

The squad is named after dolphin which is considered human friendly. The squad, symbolically, is meant to give a sense of care and friendship to people after the distorted image of police due to multiple reasons. Interestingly, the official Facebook page of Dolphin Squad also shows two cops helping a man whose car is out of order. While, in another statement on the same page, the city police chief directs the personnel to first take the name of Allah before patrolling and say hello to every person whom they want to search or check.

"We are on the roads to help and rescue people; reduce street crime; and improve the image of police force," a 25 year old tall excited squad tells TNS standing near Shadman Market of Lahore. He says they work as first respondents on the crime scene, traffic jam, accident or any other trouble. "If a crime takes place, the victim will call at Rescue 15. We get a call from Rescue 15, will contact the victim and try to reach him from the nearby point. We get details of the crime, try to follow the criminal and if some other policemen come we leave the spot. Further investigations are done by them," he says.

Currently 700 of this specially-trained squad are on the roads. Their number will be raised up to 2500 with the passage of time. The 700 Dolphins at present are working in small groups. They are getting special Rs10,000 allowance over and above the salary of a normal police constable, taking it to Rs32,000 per month. The squad is given android phones, guns, pistols and heavy bikes to follow the criminals.

In the last ten years alone, Pakistani Dolphin Squad is the third such force following Mohafiz Force and Mujahid Squad. Both forces were meant to curb street crime. Now, this new model is in town with new expectations.

Mohafiz, a patrolling force, started its operation in 2006. Earlier, in 1997, the government created the Elite Police, as a highly trained special force to assist district police in situations that need expertise with high-risk searches, raids and rescue operations. Now, according to some reports, 70 per cent of the total around 8,000 Elite men are on protocol and security duties of VIPS and VVIPs.

All these squads will continue their functions while the new Dolphin Squad will work as a "first respondent".

"Such initiatives are good because huge funds are allocated for them. But such squads become only one per cent of the overall policing in the province and a small percentage of total police force in big cities," says Khawaja Khalid Farooq, former Punjab police chief. "Ideally, we should improvise and bring reforms in our police stations."

Interestingly, the new Dolphin Squad is being led by the supervisory authority that monitors Mohafiz and Mujahid squads. The objectives of this new force are also the same old ones -- to reduce crime, and improvise police image.

Many think the Dolphin Squad is another initiative that is supposed to leave a visual impact while the provincial government shirks real reforms.

"Street crimes are a routine in this market. I don’t think such initiatives can reduce them until there is serious commitment. These new squads are seen during the day and at night but we hardly see any policeman when the crime takes place. People call at Rescue 15 and there is no response," says Muhammad Waheed, a shopkeeper.

"You cannot reduce crime unless you address the real causes behind it, which are unemployment and depressed economy," views another citizen Shaukat Hussain. "They seem young and smart but time will prove whether they are effective."

The new Dolphin Squad system is costing the provincial exchequer up to five billion rupees in terms of training and logistics. According to official figures, only last year, the Punjab government sanctioned Rs910 million funds for raising the Dolphin Squad. This is around six per cent of the total budget of Punjab police which is around 86 billion for the fiscal year 2015-16.

The scope of the Dolphin Squad will be enhanced to Multan, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Gujranwala as an attempt to make it "face" of Punjab police, according to a recent statement of Punjab chief minister.

Zia-ul-Hassan, who served as former chief of police in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab and introduced Mohafiz Squad in both regions, says that the continuity of policies matter a lot. "When we started the Mohafiz Squad, the aim was to curb street crime and send the force where police cars could not get in," he says. "Gradually, the focus of respective governments changed."

He says such policies are dependent on continuous funding, proper and effective monitoring, performance audit and seriousness of supervisory officers. "There is a need to take initiatives to curb street crime through modern policing and bring overall reforms."

He recalls how the reforms in police reporting room and computerisation of lodging of police report was not consistently followed by governments. "We do not follow good policies and start new initiatives that reduce the impact of previous initiatives," he concludes.