A new police force will soon join the array of specialised police units engaged in securing the city of Lahore against criminals and terrorists. Though, unlike the existing Elite, Mohafiz and Quick Response forces and the corporals of the Counter Terrorism Department, the new Dolphin Force will only be fighting “street crimes” in the Punjab metropolis.

It is being raised in pursuit of an idea that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif brought home from a visit to Turkey.

Four Turkish and 25 Pakistani master trainers are currently training some 700 recruits to the Dolphin Force. Turkish trainers had a say in the selection of the personnel.

They could appear on the Lahore streets as early as mid February in their smart uniforms and modern equipment.

They promise to be quite modern in their bulletproof helmets and riding high-speed motorcycles. A Camera, voice recording and communication equipment fixed in the helmet will keep them in contact with – and in the watchful eyes of - their control room. They will also be carrying weapons such as SIG pistols and stun guns.

Initially, the force will have 690 personnel but will eventually rise to its full strength of 1,800 constables, 60 Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 15 Sub-Inspectors, four Deputy Superintendents of Police and one Superintendent of Police.

Additional Inspector General Dr. Haider Ashraf of Lahore police is looking after the formation of the Dolphins as a separate force. The idea is, according to him, to keep the Dolphins separate from the regular police to bring about change in the cursed thana culture.

“They will have their own offices and control room. They will not interact with the regular police, except for handing over the criminal they apprehend to the area police station for registration of cases,” the officer told Dawn.

But old hands of the police force don’t find the Dolphin Force idea appealing.

Dr. Shoaib Suddle has vast experience of policing and has served as Inspector General of Police Sindh and Baluchistan. Although he agrees that changing patterns of crime and violence require specialised police units, he says the force being launched in Punjab only to check street crimes is not the right approach.

“Street crime falls in a category that demands improving the basic unit of policing, which is the police station,” he told Dawn. “I don’t think the new police units would be effective in checking street crimes.”

Dr. Suddle, the only officer in the police service who held a doctorate degree in criminology, also disapproved of Dolphin Force being made a separate entity. That would give rise to command and control problems, he said.

“It will not produce good results. If thana culture is to be changed, the government should concentrate on police reforms,” he said, asking “What is the problem in bring reforms at police station level?”

According to him the best way for checking crimes is to introduce the safe city concept. “Install CCTV cameras, use other modern gadgets to monitor criminals and bring reforms in police stations,” he said.

“The working and living conditions in our police stations are appallingly poor. Constables are low paid and have no transport and health care facilities. Favourite police officers are deployed there,” he said.

Specialised police units such as Elite Force and Mohafiz force were established for fighting terrorism and hardened criminals. But they have become less effective due to lack of funds and are now deputed to protect VIPs.

In the post-9/11 years, Pakistani police personnel had been trained by US experts, especially during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s regime. The US also provided modern gadgets, including “bomb disposal suits” equipped with ballistic helmets with a visor, X-Ray machines, disrupter guns, Jenson tool kits and explosives detectors in 2009.

Ironically, instead of using their expertise, the US-trained bomb disposal experts were transferred to different departments, and the bomb disposal suits gathered dust in the Criminal Investigation Agency’s office in Rawalpindi until early 2012 when the then City Police Officer Azhar Hameed Khokhar activated the US trained bomb disposal squad.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2016