ISLAMABAD: The government is working on citizens’ centric police reforms to bridge the trust deficit between the police and the community.

This was stated by Director General National Police Bureau Dr Ehsan Sadiq while chairing a meeting of senior police officers from all provinces held to review the status of implementation of the recommendations of the Police Reforms Committee.

The committee was notified by the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan.

In the meeting, additional reforms which can improve the police performance were discussed.

Dr Sadiq said a number of legal and policy reforms had already been introduced along with enhanced budgetary allocations in provinces; therefore, additional reforms are required.

He acknowledged the fact that initiatives like help desks, Khidmat Markaz, emergency response and IT-based management systems had improved the working of the police.

However, citizens’ complaints pertaining to non-registration of FIRs, ineffective investigation processes, non-professionalism and corruption still largely persists.

He also endorsed the fact that due to lack of effective coordination among different components of criminal justice system and legal deficiencies, the conviction rate in serious crimes was very low.

He stressed the need of citizens’ satisfaction approach in policing rather than statistics-based approach.

There was consensus among the participants on the need of technology-based and citizens’ centric police reforms along with upgradation of the accountability mechanism and rationalisation of career planning of the police service.

The participants also appreciated the important role of National Police Bureau as an umbrella organisation for all police organisations in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2023