LAHORE, Jan 15: A large number of police officers up to the rank of SP can be promoted and ASIs recruited now that the Finance Department has made available the funds required for the purpose, official sources said here on Tuesday.

The promotions and recruitments are required to enable the department to establish the proposed investigation wing, being introduced in Lahore from Feb 15 and in the rest of the province by March 31. A separate wing for investigation is being set up for the first time in the country.

The sources said the Finance Department had on Tuesday released the Rs320 million required for the promotions and recruitments and Rs180 million for the revamping of the traffic police.

This was in addition to the Rs1.9 billion grant from the federal government to the provinces for the restructuring of police that will get a pick-up truck and two motorcycles for each of the police stations in the Punjab for their investigation cells.

The authorities said new posts of 10 SPs, 42 DSPs, 366 inspectors, 699 sub-inspectors and 1,363 assistant sub-inspectors had been sanctioned for the installation of the investigation department in 33 of the remaining districts of the Punjab.

“Half the posts of ASIs will be filled by direct recruitment through the Punjab Public Service Commission and the remaining through promotion,” they said.

For Lahore, they said, there were 22 posts of inspectors, 112 of SIs and 147 of ASIs. Of the total posts of the ASIs 74 would be filled through the Punjab Public Service Commission.

The additional inspector general will supervise the recruitments and promotions. The funds would also be used for making arrangements for transport and the other paraphernalia.

According to the authorities, investigation cells at the police stations will handle only minor cases involving imprisonment up to three years. Cases of major and organized crime involving imprisonment for more than three years or capital punishment would be the subject of special squads to be headed by DSPs.

In Lahore, the number of police circles is being reduced from 22 to 16. The DSP-led investigation squads will be established at the central police stations of these circles. When informed of a serious crime, the area police will secure the place and preserve the evidence till the arrival of the squad. There will be 126 squads under the 16 DSPs, having five investigators each besides a 15-strong support staff.