ISLAMABAD: Superintendents of police, sub-divisional police officers and station house officers were asked to be present in their offices at all times so they could be available to hear grievances of complainants.

Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Afzaal Ahmed Kausar issued these directives in response to complaints lodged against officials.

Police officers told Dawn that scores of complaints were received against SHOs, SDPOs and SPs, stating they were never available in their offices. The complainants also stated that they had to wait in long queues outside offices and staff often misbehaved with them.

The SDPO should respond to complainants if they have grievances against the SHO and staff of the police station, the officers said, adding similarly, SPs should address grievances against SDPOs and other sub-ordinates at the police station.

The DIG expressed displeasure over the behaviour of officials, adding that SHOs have been asked to make sure that they are available in their offices to hear complaints and people should be treated nicely.

The performance of majority of the officials deployed at police stations, circles and zones was found to be unsatisfactory, the officials said, adding that they also failed to control crime in their respective jurisdictions.

No major action was taken against drug dealers operating in different areas of Tarnol, Bhara Kahu, Shahzad Town, Khanna and Sihala, they said.

“All zonal SPs and SDPOs have been asked to sit in one of the police stations of their zone to hear public complaints against police,” a police spokesman said, adding SHOsshould be presentin police stations from 3pm to 5pm every day.

DIG Kausar said a list of names of officers and duty roster is also being shared with the public in this regard so that they can easily reach the officer concerned. “Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Dr Syed Mustafa Tanweer will supervise the whole process, the aim of which is to mitigate the maladies of public on an urgent basis,” he said.

He added that he would also check availability of the officers at the selected place and time.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021