Provincial Minister for Law and Cooperatives Raja Basharat has said that the “Citizens Centric Policing Conference (CCPC)” was an effort of Punjab Police whose recommendations would provide relief to the common people of the province on priority basis and strengthen the atmosphere of trust between the police and the citizens.
He was addressing as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of CCPC held at Punjab Police Officers Mess Lahore on Friday. He further said that for the first time Punjab Police had taken such a practical step for the convenience of the citizens instead of amending the law or demanding resources from the government while staying within its resources which was a role model for other institutions.
He said that in line with the vision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Chief Minister of Punjab, practical steps of people-friendly policing would further improve the process of police service delivery and the people of the province would equally benefit from these facilities. Raja Basharat said that the Punjab government was ready to extend all possible cooperation to upgrade the Police Act 1934 while the supervisory officers would have to play their role more diligently and efficiently in providing services to the people and controlling crime. He said that with the practical steps taken after the conference, all the police stations and police offices of the province would be able to play an important role in alleviating the problems of the citizens.
In his address, IG Punjab said that Punjab Police should be given crime fighting. A detailed roadmap has been drawn up for the transformation of the Police force into Police service, according to which the Punjab Police, while remaining within its jurisdiction, would take immediate practical steps to implement whatever it can for citizen-centric policing, including convenience, service and protection of citizens. He further said that during the three-day conference jointly organized by USIP, experts from various fields including police officers and judiciary had reviewed all the issues in detail and made important recommendations that guided to a future roadmap.
“An action plan has also been formulated to strengthen the identity of Punjab Police as a people friendly police force.”, IG said. He further said that Punjab Police had been setting up new programs in the style of Service Centers, Special Initiative Police Stations and Women Safety App for the convenience of the citizens while special attention would be paid to monitoring and inspection to maintain the usefulness of these projects.
At the function, the three committees of the conference discussed the Citizen Centric Policing Model.
Covering topics such as improving experiences and policing gender crimes, he made recommendations that were well received by the audience. Speaking on the occasion, the speakers said that besides effective use of information technology in the style of modern policing, citizen feedback was essential for restoring and promoting trust between the police and the public and this was taken into account in the preparation of conference recommendations. Retired and present service officers including Ehsan Ghani, Additional IG Rao Sardar, DIG Maqsood ul Hassan, AIG Imran Karim, SP Shaista Nadeem, Chaudhry Yaqub, Sarmad Saeed, Additional IG Ali Amir, Additional IG Kanwar Shahrukh, DIG Shehzada Sultan, SP Ahsan Chauhan, Additional IG Azhar Hameed Khokhar, Iftikhar Chaudhry, Additional IG Farooq Mazhar, DIG Yousuf Malik, AIG Asad Muzaffar, Battalion Commander Amara Athar, Bushra Taskin, Razia Hussain, Rida Qazi, Saroop Ejaz, Fatima Bukhari, Zarrin Ehsan, Kausar Abbas, Zoha Wasim, Rana Abdul Aziz, Hafiz Arsalan, Dr. Tehmina Ranjha , Umar Khan, Madiha Alam, Zia Hashmi, Shahrzad Amin, Irm Sana and others were given commemorative shields while IG Punjab Inam Ghani presented a souvenir to Raja Basharat.