HYDERABAD: The police authorities are actively considering creation of three SP (superintendent of police) posts in Hyderabad district and appoint officers preferably from the Police Services of Pakistan (PSP) cadre for an efficient policing.

Two proposals have been given to the Sindh inspector-general by the Hyderabad DIG for a revamp of the police set-up in view of the crime data of different police stations, population factor and the issues confronting the routine policing.

The proposals have been prepared as the district has been witnessing a surge in ordinary crime besides an increasing number of high-profile cases including several attacks on policemen and violence involving religious parties and nationalist groups. There is a concern shared by police high-ups over the reluctance of personnel in handling and investigating certain cases.

According to one proposal, there should be one SP to look after the district’s City and Latifabad talukas and another SP for Qasimabad taluka and rural Hyderabad taluka.

The second proposal says the City SP should look after the police stations falling in City taluka alone while the Latifabad SP should be responsible for the police stations of Latifabad taluka and the Qasimabad SP should supervise the police stations of Qasimabad and rural Hyderabad talukas.

“Such an arrangement is essential for an effective policing”, said DIG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi. “And I will recommend that these officers should be from the PSP cadre,” he said. Creation of these posts would not burden the police exchequer as the posts of ADIG (crime and operations) of the DIG office Hyderabad, the headquarters SP of Badin and Thatta were proposed to be abolished and accordingly re-designated as such, he said.

These SPs should be empowered to look after crime management measures, postings and transfers of lower ranking policemen from one police station to the other within their respective jurisdiction, the DIG said, adding that the SSP would, however, continue to have overall supervision.

“Hyderabad is the hub of nationalist politics and it serves as the secondary capital of Sindh even otherwise,” DIG Abbasi said. Then, he said, there had been back-to-back attacks on policemen in the city. Therefore, it was essential that the Hyderabad police set-up should be revamped since the had been frequented by VIPs. “The city has ethnic and political faultlines too,” he observed.

According to the him, besides better police management, investigation of cases remained weak. For instance, he pointed out, Qasimabad’s crime data was disturbing. “With a population fewer than the city, it reports more crime than the city does,” he said. An official on the administrative side said: “We are facing serious problems in policing because SHOs don’t remain in field on different pretexts and there is a serious problem of supervision. SSP can’t visit each and every area as he has to deal with the general public and hear complaints as well. So, after creation of the SP posts, we will at least be in a comfortable position as far as supervision of SHOs and police stations is concerned.”

Hyderabad district police manage eight police stations in its City taluka, nine in Latifabad taluka, four in Qasimabad and eight in rural taluka.

According to the 2013 crime data, 1,767 cases were reported in the City, Market, Phulelli, Cantonment, Latifabad, Hussainabad and Hali Road police sub-divisions as against 1,021 reported from Jan 1 to July 31, 2014. Likewise, 1,438 cases were reported in 2013 in the Qasimabad, Baldia, Chalgari, Tandojam, Husri and SITE police sub-divisions as against 775 from Jan 1 to July 31, 2014.

According to the DIG, he prefers PSP officers over rankers because there is a serious ‘integrity’ issue among ‘rankers’. This problem exists in PSP officers, too, but it is not generalised. “Secondly, DSPs are unwilling to work or they don’t work at all,” he observed, and said there were good rankers, though a few, whose performance was marvellous and they often outdo their PSP counterparts when it came to judging integrity factor.

The DIG emphasised the need for a revision of policeman versus population ratio. According to him, it is one police constable for 300 people in Punjab while in Sindh the ratio is 1:450.

Hyderabad police badly lack the required strength of personnel and recommendations in this regard have been made repeatedly.

According to him, the under-strength police force is definitely a serious situation but under-utilisation of the existing strength in terms of efficiency is a more serious situation.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2014