KARACHI, March 28: The majority of the city’s Station House Officers (SHOs) have become such an influential and elusive cadre within the ranks of the police that they have become an embarrassment to the top brass.

Most of the powerful heads of more than 110 police stations are simply operating beyond their means and meagre resources at their disposal, while enjoying great impunity due to the outdated system of policing and external influences, internal police sources have revealed.

Random surveys of various police stations, queries to dozens of SHOs and concerns among the senior police officials suggest that the position – once considered a core part of the whole system’s functioning – has deteriorated mainly due to political influence and personal agendas of the officers and their high-ups.

Furthermore, interesting facts gathered by a relevant police department about the SHOs’ mindsets through an internal audit revealed declining moral values of the officers concerning their duties.

“Most of the SHOs in the city are found in civvies during duty hours rather than in uniform,” said a source close to the fact-finding process.

“Similarly, in their areas, the SHOs move in their own cars and don’t use official police mobiles for the purpose. These officers are accompanied by armed policemen, but in plainclothes,” he added.

Interestingly, the source said “personal cars” used by the SHOs most of the time don’t carry the registration number plate. The majority of such vehicles are recovered through investigations and utilized by the SHOs until they return the deposit to Nizarat, bringing such recovery on the record, he added, citing police studies.

“In this case, there is a similarly in the taste of the SHOs in Karachi,” he said. “They like black, blue or white cars to be in their possession while the concept of area rounds in police vans has become obsolete over the years.”

The police assessment suggests that the majority of the SHOs do not attend office and only occasionally visit the police stations, mainly on calls from their colleagues, depending on the nature of developments in the registered cases of their “interest.”

“The office of SHO, which is considered an institution, has never been in a very ideal condition after the law and order situation started worsening in the 1980s,” said a senior official, while commenting on reasons behind the recent decline in values.

“But during the last few years, the institution has been brought to the verge of collapse due to nepotism, political associations of the policemen and their direct access to high-ups, which has made them feel above the rules and accountability.”

Such grievances are found among the majority of the SPs of towns in the city, who find themselves helpless before several SHOs, who are either directly appointed by a central functionary of the home department personally or have links with the police authorities.

“To recall, one of the DIGs in Karachi had to receive transfer orders on pressure from the provincial home ministry a couple of years ago, when he suspended two SHOs within his jurisdiction due to negligence of their duties,” said another official, defining his compulsions to regulate while regulating discipline among SHOs of his town.

“Some of them are very powerful while some have their own agendas, which ultimately put dents in routine business of the area police.”