ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The ministry of science and technology (MoST) has allocated Rs33 million for training police officials in collecting data and sorting cases by using state-of-the-art technology.

As many as 10,000 police officials will be trained in infromation technology across the country in 10 months through programmes to be executed by the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT).

The IT division will provide the amount for the training programme to be conducted in phases at major cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta.

Sources said as both the public and the private sector were collaborating in executing the programme some of the institutes with adequate facilities had already consented to participate in the programme.

“This is now up to the CIIT to execute the project by itself or outsource it,” sources said.

There is shortage of skills and of trained human resources in different technical categories and at different levels of IT in various police departments. This shortage is more acute at lower level.

“Sooner or later the concept of e-government will come into force and it is essential to prepare the staff to learn new skills and knowledge for a smooth change”.

Since all the IT driven activities are time-specific and demand driven, the police officials are not geared to meet these challenges.

“Very few know about word processing and concept of e-mail etc. and the situation demands an urgent orientation of these police officials,” they said.

Moreover, training of police officials in a systematic way may also increase the implementation speed of different government projects and routine operations.

In order to achieve the objective of good governance, self- reliability and efficiency within the available resources, such training is required immediately, the sources said.

The programme would not only help enhance efficiency of the police department as a whole but also improve overall working and knowledge of police officials.

It would also catalyze the whole process of e-government and help upgrade facilities at the training institutes. —APP