Lahore police mull abolishing independent investigation wing

LAHORE: The police authorities are considering a proposal to introduce changes in the Police Order 2002 to bring the investigation wing back under the command of the operations wing of the Lahore police, which according to its critics, will be like undoing the progress made by the organisation over the past two decades.

The proposal came as a surprise for most of the senior police officers when it was shared with them at a meeting and was later discussed at two more huddles recently, seeking suggestions from them, before its implementation in the provincial capital.

Interestingly, a group of police officers wanted to implement the proposal despite strong reservations shown by a majority of the participants of the meetings.

The Police Order 2002 had introduced the provision for separate investigation staff at every police station in order to bring specialisation in the police, following the pattern in developed countries across the world.

Sharing details in this regard, an official privy to the development told Dawn that the move to abolish independent status of the investigation wing by giving ultimate powers to the divisional SPs and the station house officers (SHOs) has created unrest among the higher ranks of the police as it was also against the spirit of the Police Order 2002.

He said the clause 1 of the section 18 of Police Order categorically declares, “There shall be separation of investigation from other functions of the Police”.

The prime purpose of segregation of the wings was to introduce specialisation in the police and to hold the officers accountable, he added.

The fundamental restructuring and reform of police stations included complete separation of prosecution from the police by creating an independent (prosecution) service, he said, adding this functional separation was also intended to develop requisite expertise and promote greater efficiency, leading to better results.

The official said the proposal also included increasing the number of police divisions of Lahore from six to twelve where the divisional SPs should deal with both investigation and operations.

Similarly, the changes have also been proposed at the police station level where the police high-ups wanted to bring investigation police under the command of the SHO.

He said a group of police officer backing this idea wanted to reintroduce ‘unity of command’ through this proposal.

During these meetings, he said, Lahore Operations DIG Afzaal Kausar and the acting DIG (investigation) Kamran Adil opposed the scheme.

Similarly, investigation SSP Dr Anoosh Masood Chaudhry also shared her difference of opinion in the meeting, proposing that the high-ups should strengthen the investigation by reallocating human resource.

However, Chief Traffic Officer Mustansar Feroze, Lahore police operations SSP Sohaib Ashraf, reportedly, backed the proposal to empower the SPs and SHOs to discharge both functions.

The official said the officers who opposed the proposal were of the opinion that the investigation police wing of Lahore has long been neglected as compare to the operations wing in terms of distribution of resources. They said that out of approximately 30,000 strong Lahore police, 24,000 officials were designated for operations wing, while the investigation wing has been kept understaffed.

“Currently, there are only 510 investigation officers (IOs) at the disposal of the investigation wing of Lahore police, while the number of total registered cases in a year has reached 275,000”, the official said. It was not humanly possible for the IOs to complete the investigations of such a large number of cases, as required by the high-ups.

On the other hand, the officers who were supporting the proposal claimed that the poor performance of the investigation wing has prompted the Lahore police chief to introduce reforms to bring “unity of command” in the police.

The official source said that independent police circles have termed the proposal an attempt to take the police back to the old era, saying as the developed world was following the concept of specialisation, a retrogressive mindset in the Punjab police was trying hard to grab powers to take decisions without any accountability.

According to them, he said, the separation of the investigation and operations wings was a strong check on the police officers.

“It would be unwise to give unbridled powers to the SHO to first lodge a case under specific sections and then himself decide whether the allegations leveled in the FIR are true or false,” the official said.

The proposal, if materialised in its present form, would destroy the efforts to dispense justice to the people, he said while quoting the independent police circles.

When this reporter contacted the retired senior police officer Dr Shoaib Suddle, he strongly opposed the proposal, declaring it against the spirit of the Police Order 2002.

Dr Shoaib, who has been instrumental in the implementation of the Police Order across the country, is also regarded as a leading police and justice system reforms specialist in South Asia.

“I have been advocating worldwide the specialisation in the police organisations as the best way to dispense justice to the public”, he said, adding that the proposal would deal a major blow to the independence and autonomy granted to the police under the Police Order.

He said the Police Order had provisions for the organisation of police on functional basis, through introduction of new branches, divisions, bureaus and sections, to improve efficiency and bring professionalism in the service. “The separation of investigation from watch and ward was a major initiative to achieve this objective”, Dr Suddle said.

He lamented that the attempt to wrap up the existing system in the name of the ‘unity of command’ would be tantamount to disowning the efforts of the senior police officers who drafted the Police Order 2002 in the best interest of the public and the police.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023