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Digitization of Police in Punjab A Right Way Forward Part-1 - Waqas A. Khan
Digitization of Police in Punjab A Right Way Forward Part-1 - Waqas A. Khan
Digitization of Police in Punjab A Right Way Forward Part-1 - Waqas A. Khan
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People of Pakistan are well familiar with the practice and culture of record keeping and crime
handling in a better way. There has been no election in Pakistan in which each political party
has not included the police reforms in their manifesto including the latest in 2013. Before
2002, the whole debate on the issue was gyrating around the police law. In every serious
debate on the issue, every participant used to mention the outdated police laws (at that time
the laws governing police were Police Act 1861 and Police Rules 1934). A serious belief used
to exist that if somehow, we can change these laws and bring a new law that can address the
current needs of the country and the police, their functioning, performance and the
efficiency will be matchless. So in Musharraf’s regime, this effort was done and a new Police
Order 2002 emerged. Those who think that a good law is a magic wind to correct everything
were disappointed to see that nothing was improved. So again the faultfinders started to
criticize the law and said it needs amendments to revolutionize the police. Following which
many amendments came including the Punjab Police Order Amendment 2013 and Khyber
Pakhtoonkhwa Police Order Amendment 2015. In the same bid, Sindh and Balochistan not
only tried to repeal the new Police Order 2002 but also tried to replace it with the same 1861
saga. Although resisted by the superior courts, the secret to police reforms was still
unknown.
Fortunately, after multiple cosmetic attempts to change the police, the PTI government in the
KPK looked into the real reason behind the incompetence, this time, not the outdated laws
but “Archaic Technology”. The fast pace of PTI towards digitization forced its political foe,
PML(N) to react digitally. Today, Punjab Police has not only matched the digitization of Police
in the KPK but have surpassed them on many fronts. Recently, DPO Kasur, Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi
invited me along with the district chairman Kasur, Rana Sikandar Hayat to give a detailed
briefing on the digitization of Police in Punjab. Due to its length, the article will be in two
parts. In this detailed article, I am enlisting and explaining the new tools which Punjab Police
is using these days to fight crime in a better way. Through this, I expect, we can not only
understand the current technology being used in the police departments but also devise
future agenda for a better and responsive police in Pakistan.
1. Digitization of FIRs
Police Station Record Management System (PSRMS) has been installed in all Police Stations
of Punjab. Presently all FIRs are being entered in the system and corresponding entries in
different registers are done electronically by the system itself. Rizvi explained, “the
supervisory officers can see the status of a specific case and also obtain other information
about recovery, witnesses, sureties, case diaries, name(s) of victims, name(s) of accused,
name(s) of witnesses, challan date, next date of hearing, gender of victims etc.”
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Tenant Registration System (TRS)
Any person who takes a home on rent has to register himself/herself at the nearby police
station in the TRS. Once registered, the system immediately matches it to the database to
check if the tenant has a previous criminal record, is of schedule 4, any FIRs registered
against him/her, is an offender. Details of his/her driving license (if any), registered vehicles
on his/her name and any mobile SIMS registered on his name are shown immediately.
In the District Control Rooms, the Police have full access “VeriSys”, a NADRA system to verify
the issued CNICs of the suspected person for bringing in transparency, validation, elimination
of terrorism, fraud & forgery. This is a web-based real-time activity displaying the front and
rear image of the CNIC with added hidden information for verifications.
This system is meant for criminal record management and identification of criminals by using
Biometrics, physical appearance and previous crime history. The main features of this system
include the database of digitized fingerprints of criminals and identification of their latent and
other fingerprints through automation.
Geo-Fencing
Previously, this was done only at a few centers in Pakistan but now in the cities like Kasur, full
facilities of Geo-Fencing are present. This is the use of GPS or RFID technology to create a
virtual geographic boundary, enabling software to trigger a response when a mobile device
enters or leaves a particular area. It is an uphill task. After a crime has happened, to find the
culprit all calls to and from that area in a particular time from all cellular companies are
collected. As Rizvi told, “Average data collected is usually around 4000 pages, out of which
we shortlist the suspected people. Above 100 call details are obtained, through hit and trial
method, intelligence and professionalism our PITB trained staff is capable of digging out the
real culprit. We have unearthed many blind murders, kidnappings and child abuses through
this technology successfully”.
In order to entertain the complaints of the visitors, a Complaint Management System (CMS)
software has been installed and the complainants are issued an E-Tag after receiving their
applications. Once the application is entered into the system its follow-up is monitored by
Senior Supervisory Officers and Provincial Monitoring Room located in the Central Police
Office, Lahore till the matter reaches its logical conclusion. If required the application is also
typed for the applicant in the Reception Rooms.
Crime Mapping
The software is assisting the police to record daily crimes on their online repository through
their mobile phones. The officer and/or the witness record the crime through their mobile
phone from the place of the incident with a picture, location on the Google Map along with the
date of incident and the sections of law applicable. Daily reporting on the software creates
crime patterns across Lahore identifying the crime pockets, the high time of increased crime
rate and the areas that are hotspots. Presented on a bigger screen the officers can visualize
the crime map and redirect sources into the area where crimes are happening the most.
Gone are the days when police station clerks had to beg complainants for stationery, fuel, and
food. Now, the front desks being run by civilian staff are rapidly changing the face of the
police force because the station assistants are given all accessories – ranging from printers
to Wi-Fi and android handsets to water dispensers. Above all, they work in air-conditioned
rooms. At these gender sensitive front desks (almost an equal presence of male and female
staff), well-dressed and young officers treat the complaints like the guys we see in offices of
multinational companies. They immediately report complaints through a centralized online
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system. The visitors are given a few services on-the-spot like registration and verification of
private persons and official documents. The complainants are handed over electronic-
receipts. The senior officers monitor the whole system from different systems and locations.
The process has been speedy, for example, the desks have been made and are operational in
each and every police station of district Kasur.
All front desk officers are being monitored in the district control room through CCTV so that
their presence, desk internal environment and officer’s presence at the desk can be seen live
by the superior officers. This is to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the system.
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