LAHORE: The Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) chief operating officer (COO) informed the Lahore police that over 185,000 locations of the provincial capital city have been linked by mapping more than 600,000 private cameras.

The statistics were shared in a meeting with Capital City Police Officer Additional IG Bilal Siddique Kamyana.

Mr Kamyana visited the office of the authority and held a meeting with its COO Kamran Khan and other officials concerned here on Wednesday.

Lahore Operations DIG Afzal Ahmad Kausar, SSPs from investigation and operations wings and other officers were present on the occasion.

Officials directed to monitor police patrols through PSCA network

The PSCA official briefed the Lahore CCPO about objectives of the authority, its working and services provided to Lahore police and other departments.

COO Kamran Khan said the PSCA has been providing the latest information technology-based services to Lahore police for control and smart policing.

The PSCA has helped Lahore police trace several high-profile terrorism cases and arrest hardened criminals including proclaimed offenders and court absconders wanted in heinous crimes registered against them.

On the occasion, Bilal Siddique Kamyana directed the Lahore police to make full use of the IT-based facilities of safe cities authority to ensure effective crime fighting.

He admitted that the facilities provided by the PSCA have proved to be very helpful to Lahore police in crime prevention and detection.

He said all the units of Lahore police should make further improvements in emergency response, traffic management, counter surveillance, crime control and service delivery through electronic evidence through CCTV cameras of the PSCA.

The Lahore police chief stressed upon the investigation wing officers to use video evidence collection through the PSCA to improve the investigation process and solve the cases in the given time frame.

A new night patrolling plan has been devised for the Lahore police, the CCPO told the meeting.

He directed the senior police officers to monitor the location and performance of all the patrolling teams including dolphin squad, police response unit and police stations from Punjab Safe Cities Authority on a daily basis.

The movement of these patrolling teams would be monitored through LTE advanced technology satellites sets.

The working of personnel deployed at all entry and exit police posts of the city would also be checked through body cameras and LTE satellites, the CCPO said.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2023