June 23, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 18, 1429

LAHORE, June 22: The Punjab police face shortage of 11,000 personnel, making the force’s strength disproportionate to its needs under new administrative arrangement.

The growing population and law and order situation are also the challenges which seem to be beyond the capacity of the existing number of police in the province.

Punjab Inspector General Shaukat Javed told Dawn that with the expansion in police establishments after the implementation of the Police Order 2002 and rise in population, the current number of officials (about 160,000) were insufficient for handling law and order and other duties.

He said a 12-hour shift package could be launched to lessen the burden on the officials only after the induction of the required strength.

According to police reforms package introduced in 2006, 12-hour shift system was to be introduced in the urban police stations of five major cities. The plan is yet to be implemented.

The IG said a proposal was under consideration to slash the three-year tenure of district police officers to two-year with a view to improve their efficiency and to reduce chances of their developing `connections’ in an area.

When asked about the slow pace of construction of police stations’ buildings and their rehabilitation under the reforms package, the IG said 190 buildings had been completed while work on 140 others, including the rented premises, was in progress.