KARACHI, Nov 7: The ‘Community Policing System’ will be expanded in all the police stations of the city, as the present system has been successfully introduced in Ferozeabad police station.

This was announced by Inspector General of Police, Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah, here on Friday. He was speaking at the award distribution ceremony of Madadgar-15, Saddar Town, in which civilians and policemen were honoured for their bravery to nab criminal elements.

Five civilians and 26 police officials were conferred on certificates, shields and cash prizes in recognition of their services.

Kamal Shah said that community policing was introduced recently at Ferozeabad police station with the help of a non- government organization (NGO). He said that there were regular meetings between the area people and the police officials to ensure a crime free environment in the locality.

“We are now planning to introduce this system in all police stations of the city,” he said and added that efforts were being made to encourage community policing.

He said that the police department lacked resources to develop its infrastructure. However, efforts could be made by the police officials to remain courteous as becoming courteous did not cost money, he added.

The provincial police chief said that the ‘response time’ of police action team could be reduced to five minutes if police had the latest and upgraded computer system to receive complaints.

He advised the policemen posted at the ‘15’ to receive all the complaints and pass them immediately without trying to get detailed information from the complainant or any other caller.

“It is not your duty to investigate the caller on phone, it is duty of the response team, which is supposed to take action and investigate on the spot of the incident,” he observed.

He said that adequate measures were being taken to ensure peace during Ramazan for Eid shopping. He said that police camps were being set up in all the busy shopping areas of the city, where quick response team would be available round the clock.

Kamal Shah said that 10 vigilance video cameras had been installed so far while 100 more cameras would be installed in sensitive areas of the city. He added that well-to-do people had approached the police department and offered to borne the expenses of costly video cameras.

The ceremony, attended by a number of high officials of police department, was also addressed by the adviser to the chief minister on information, Sallahuddin Haider.

Mr Haider deplored that local press and media used to highlight negative activities of a few police officials instead of encouraging the department on its achievements.

He said, “I am witness to the alertness of Madadgar-15 officials and there are other incidents, which reposed my confidence in the force.” He urged media to project positive steps and efforts of the police in combating crime.

Earlier, in his welcome address, DIG Operations Tariq Jamil said that five Madadgar centres in Karachi had so far received 300,000 calls and responded to around 100,000 calls, as majority of calls was not related to crime incidents or police emergency. —APP/PPI