LAHORE: The olive green is likely to get approval for new colour of Punjab police uniform mainly due to its weather-friendly shade.

The senior police officers in a meeting at the Central Police Office on Tuesday shortlisted two colours – olive green and navy blue – for the new uniform of police. A majority of officers recommended olive green being weather-friendly and graceful.

A senior police officer, privy to the information, told Dawn that all the senior officers in the meeting had unanimously agreed that the ‘Punjab police should now get rid of the decades-old black uniform’.

He said the officers had strongly recommended that the design of new uniform should be properly registered with the authorities concerned by the authorised dealers so that its sanctity and authority could be maintained. They regretted that the current charcoal grey uniform was being misused as it had not been registered from the day one.

4,787 traffic cops in 30 districts made wardens

“The charcoal grey colour of the uniform absorbs more heat, making the policemen more short-tempered and grumpy,” the official said while sharing another reason for the move. He said in summer the ‘hot-headed’ cops lost temper during the field posting, tarnishing the police image.

The matter was extensively discussed in the meeting of a committee, comprising senior police officers, including additional IG Welfare & Finance Sohail Khan, Additional IG Operations & Investigations retired Captain Arif Nawaz, AIG Finance Hussain Habib Imtiaz and DIG Headquarters Farooq Mazhar.

The official said IGP Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera had himself headed some meetings in which the new uniform was on the top of the agenda.

Presently, the total strength of the Punjab Police is said to be 182,000 and if the charcoal grey colour of the uniform is replaced by new one, it will be implemented also on the other forces related to police, including Special Branch, Counter Terrorism Department, etc.

The official said the colour of Traffic Police dress will not be changed.

The pattern and the design of the uniform will be made once the colour was finalised in the next meeting of the committee, he said.

Tuesday’s meeting also discussed implementation of warden system for the better traffic management in the province and the progress of Dolphin Force.

While briefing on the imposition of warden system across Punjab, Additional IGP Traffic Rai Altaf Hussain said the traffic warden system was already working successfully in six districts, namely Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Sialkot. He said the existing 4,787 traffic police officials in other districts had been given the status of wardens and with the approval of the government to recruit 1,000 new wardens, the total figure would become 5,787 which would enable the traffic police to impose the warden system in the rest of 30 districts of the province.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2016