LAHORE: A team of senior police officers has recommended a five-year plan for reorganisation of the Lahore police with a centralised headquarters of the Capital City Police Lahore and 12 new police bureaux.

The team also proposed handover of the operational command of the Punjab Police Integrated Command & Communications (PPIC-3) to the Lahore Police and the Punjab Safe City Authority should act only as an advisory body to deal with operational bugs.

The proposal for reorganisation of decades old structure of Lahore police has been sent to the chief minister.

The team included SSP Dr Athar Waheed and the then Lahore CCPO BA Nasir and it did extensive study of urban models of Tokyo Metropolitan Police, New Delhi Police, New York Police and London Metropolitan Police

12 police bureaux under central HQ to be launched in five years

Police Operations Bureau:

Under the proposed plan, the head of police operations bureau would be DIG Operations Lahore, assisted by two senior superintendents of police (SSPs). Two SSP Operations would look after the working of three police divisions. Each division will be headed by an SP followed by sub-divisions and police stations. The operation branch will deal with crime prevention and law & order. The SP/Dolphin, SP/PRU and SP/Anti-Riots will also work under the DIG Operations. The team stressed the need to separate security from operations in view of increasing commitment of operations wing in security duties.

Security Services Bureau:

In the existing structure of the Lahore Police, the post of DIG security has been marginalised with the minimum scope of utility as Security Division looks after the security of some designated installations and most of security assignments are performed by operations wing.

It is proposed that security matters should be segregated from crime and law & order. All the security assignments should be dealt with by newly proposed Security Services Bureau, headed by the DIG/Security assisted by SSP Security, SP/VVIP and SP High Court. All the manpower at static duty for the security of key installations should also be handed over to the proposed Security Services Bureau, which would also manage the police escort services and establish close coordination with private security apparatus. The bureau will also provide security to public events.

Police Investigation Bureau:

A separate police investigation bureau will work under the DIG/Investigation, assisted by two SSPs Investigations and each will further supervise three police divisions. Each division will be headed by SP/Investigation, followed by the SDPOs and investigation staff of police stations.

Presently, only two specialised investigation units, Homicide Investigation Unit and Narcotics Investigation Unit, are functional at the divisional level.

There is a proposal to create six investigation units on functional basis to promote specialisation at the police station level. They include Attempted Murder/Hurt Investigation Unit, Financial Crimes Investigation Unit, Crime against Property Investigation Unit and Local & Special Laws Investigation Unit besides two those already working.

Traffic Police Bureau

Traffic police should be headed by an officer not below the rank of DIG, assisted by six officers of the rank of SP. Four traffic zones may be created and each zone should be headed by one SP/Traffic. There is already a post of SP/Headquarters, Traffic. The post of DSP/Licensing also needs to be upgraded to the level of SP. The administrative control of Ring Road Police should also be given to the head of Traffic Police Bureau.

Organised Crime Bureau

The Crime Investigation Agency and Crime Record Officer are working under the DIG/Investigation.

The experts proposed to establish a separate Organized Crime Bureau under direct control of an officer not below the rank of SSP who will supervise SP/CIA, SP/CRO, SP Anti-Vehicle Lifting Squad and DSP Narcotics Control.

Administration Bureau

The SSP/Administration is now working under the direct administrative control of the CCPO. The administration branch deals with Human Resource Management, Logistics and Financial matters, whereas SP Headquarters is working under the administrative control of DIG/Operations.

It is proposed to establish a separate Police Administration Bureau, headed by SSP/Administration. There should be four Police Lines in Lahore and each Police Line should be supervised by an officer not below the rank of SP.

The concerned SP/Headquarters of Police Line will report to respective head of police bureau for operational purposes but also be supervised by SSP/Administrations for administrative reasons. The Police Administration Bureau will devise the Human Resource Policy of Capital City Police. It will also establish a close liaison with all units for provision of manpower and logistics support. The Administration Bureau will also be responsible to deal with distribution of financial resources among different units.

Criminal Intelligence Bureau

The Special Branch is currently working under the administrative control of the additional IGP Special Branch. A special unit of security branch is responsible for collection of intelligence.

It is recommended that a separate bureau of criminal intelligence may be created under the direct administrative control of the CCPO.

Legal Affairs Bureau

A separate legal affairs bureau will be responsible to deal with the legal matters. It should be headed by an SSP assisted by six DSPs Legal in six police divisions. The Legal Affairs Bureau will also coordinate the court matters and also legislative affairs to propose the required amendments to the laws related to policing.

The other bureaus proposed under the Strategic Development Plan of Capital City Police Lahore 2019-23 include Internal Affairs Bureau, Community Affairs Bureau, Training, Research & Development Bureau, and Information Technology & Support Services Bureau.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2020