LAHORE: The Lahore police on Tuesday relaunched the intelligence wing, Triple One Intelligence, for the third time, allowing police and local government representatives to share information with police on terrorists or criminals for prompt action against them without being identified.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Amin Wains inaugurated the system in his office, ordering his team to adopt the system for sharing information on terrorists or anti-social elements every month.

The main thread of the wing is an android-based software application ‘Triple One’. Over 30,000 police officials and 3,500 local body representatives have been registered with it. They are required to send the information on telephone number 0303771211. The mobile number of the sender will not appear at the receiving end. The message will instead be received against a code to hide the identity of the sender for his or her safety.

Staff in control room in the CCPO Office, under the DSP intelligence, will receive the information, analyse it and arrange it according to 11 categories. After the analysis, action will be taken.

The police high-ups had made three attempts to make the system successful in the past and this is the fourth time they are launching the wing. It remained ineffective and inoperative earlier. However, the officers claim that this time the intelligence system is being introduced with a renewed vigour in a more professional manner.

Speaking on the launch, the CCPO said the purpose of the system was to improve the intelligence network of police, promoting the community policing.

He said the wing had been designed by a committee, comprising Chief Traffic Officer Rai Ijaz Ahmad, SSP Admin Rana Ayyaz Salim and SSP Operations Athar Ismail.

Mr Ayyaz Salim said he himself and the CCPO would supervise the wing which had three further divisions– intelligence operators, intelligence squad and intelligence analysis unit. The officers of the intelligence squad would visit bus terminals, railway station, madaras and other public places, register the owner or administrators with themselves and ask them to share information about crime or terrorism. All the police officers and officials at police stations would comprise the intelligence operators’ squad while in the intelligence analysis wing, officers and officials at Operations Room, Local Eye and Triple One would be included.

Mr Salim claimed that the identity of the information sharer would be fully secured. Only the CCPO and SSP Admin would be able to decode the code generated against information of the information sharer. He said it was mandatory for every police employee to share at least one piece of information every month. Any failure would lead to punishment.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2017