Reforms In Policing System Crucial To Enhance Performance, Gain Public Confidence

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2019 ) :Police Reforms Committee (PRC) has termed legislative reforms and restructuring of police on functional basis very much crucial to improve the state of service delivery to common man and overall law and order situation.

In a report titled " Police Reforms: Way Forward (Implementation and Recommendation)", it has been focused to improve quality of investigation as well as complaint redressal mechanism, revamp urban policing, enhance effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) dealing with Anti-Terrorism Act cases and ensure legislative reforms.

It is to mention that former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar in capacity of the Chairman of Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan constituted a PRC on May 15, 2018. It recommended various reforms for effective policing system in form a report which has been formally launched.

The PRC recommended that the complaint redressal mechanism be established at CPO level, headed by Additional IGP in the Province and DIG in Islamabad Capital Territory Head of Police Complaints Branches may act as Police Ombudsmen in the concerned Central Police offices.

After Police Complaints Branches at CPO and Regional levels are established all over the Provinces and ICT, they should be extended to the entire districts subject to availability of financial and administrative resources.

For improving quality of investigations, it recommended major up-gradation of investigation side to win public confidence. In this regard the PRC recommended organizational revamping and giving investigation its due place within the police working.

The PRC recommended functional specialization with an operationally distinct cadre. It also recommended introduction of the concept of investigation teams, appointment of best Police officers as investigators and establishment of state of the art training institutes with international certification and accreditation.

It proposed that forensic teams shall assist investigation teams and officers dealing with investigation should have require training for skill enhancement and certification.

It also focused to revamp urban policing and revisiting the fundaments of policing model in the light of Police Order, 2002 as well as international best practices in urban policing to address the challenges in an urban setting. One million is an optimal population size for a city to benefit from urban policing design.

Ten cities in Pakistan viz. Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad, Islamabad and Quetta qualify under this criterion. In order to restructure policing on functional basis, Police command in the urban districts is recommended to be organized in eight wings viz. Administration, Traffic, Operations, law and order, investigation, Security, Community Relation and communication and technology each headed by a DIG, The committee proposed that Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) should be introduced and a country wide training program (preferably of 3 years) should aim to train the district judiciary, the police and ADR neutrals etc.

The Alternate Dispute Resolution Act, 2017, a Federal law on the subject may either be extended to the whole of Pakistan or provinces should replicate it.

The law on Dispute Resolution Councils (DRCs) be refined and implemented in KPK and Balochistan as the concept of Jirga has wide acceptance in the two provinces. Mediation Centers and Institutes of Arbitrators and Mediators need to be established in all provinces.

The superior judiciary should develop strong monitoring mechanisms to ensure that all federal, provincial and judicial authorities discharge their roles and duties as laid down in the existing ADR laws.

It recommended that provincial governments and the federal government shall develop rules, SOPS and strong monitoring mechanisms to govern functioning of the ADR, as they would be dealing with the rights and liberties of the citizens.

PRC recommended that the capacity of CJS needs to be substantially enhanced to improve its potential to adequately counter the challenge of terrorism. It recommended to address the issue of multiple laws as the anti-terrorism laws effectiveness and also implement the National Counter Terrorism Authority Act, 2014 in letter and spirit.

PRC also suggested legislative reforms and continuity of a uniform federal police law. The Committee recommended that important amendments be made in the police related laws like the Criminal Procedure Code and Qanoon-e-Shhadat Ordinance.

The Committee also recommended that lawmaking be linked withbudget making so that when laws are formed their implementation does not fallprey to paucity of resources.