LAHORE: Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) retired Capt Arif Nawaz Khan has said that the officials of Dolphin Force involved in abusing power will be taken to task.

He issued instructions during a meeting of senior police officers at the Central Police Office on Monday in the wake of the firing incident involving Dolphin Force in which a woman was killed in Lahore.

The IGP directed the senior officers to revise the standard operating procedure (SOP) for opening fire on suspects while chasing them to make sure passersby remained safe and secure. He claimed that since its inception the Dolphin Force had significantly helped reduce crime rate in Lahore through effective patrolling and timely actions. However, he said, the officials of the force abusing power or not following the SOP should be taken to task.

“All Dolphin officials should be thoroughly briefed that they can only fire when they are attacked by suspects,” the IGP said. The officials violating these orders would have to face departmental and legal action, he said. Earlier, Dolphin Force Lahore Superintendent of Police Bilal Zafar briefed the IGP about the capacity building of the Dolphin Force to fight criminals. He said that every year a four-week refresher course was organised where they were imparted training at Police Training College Chuhng, Elite Training College Bedian and for two weeks at the District Police Lines Lahore about crime control and latest professional skills and ethics. He said that currently 2,416 Dolphin officials were patrolling in 277 beats of the city.

Additional IGP (Operations) Inam Ghani, Addl IGP (Logistics) Ghulam Rasool Zahid, Lahore Capital City Police Officer BA Nasir, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Logistics Rai Babar Saeed and DIG (Operations) Ashfaque Khan were also present in the meeting.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2019