GUJRAT: In a bid to save time and exploitation of the aggrieved, the Gujranwala police have raised a team of personnel who will prepare computerised crime scene site plans in heinous cases.

Police officials from Crime Scene Units of Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Hafizabad police have been given six-week computer training by experts at the regional headquarters.

These officials have been trained in preparing the computerised crime site plans that will replace the ongoing practice of relying on traditional planners with no formal training.

Gujranwala Regional Police Officer Tariq Abbas Qureshi told Dawn that the capability of all such ancestral/inherited private planners was alarming because they had no official certificate relating to expertise in preparation of a crime site plan.

He said that there were complaints about demands of illegal gratification by the investigation officer concerned.

Later, the officer would tell the inquiry committee that he sought money from the complainant to get a site plan prepared from a private planner, depicting that preparation of site plans, also called Scaled Site Plan, was a source of corruption.

He added that a month ago, a training programme had been arranged for officials of the Crime Scene Unit from each district of the region. Now, there were 15 ‘Auto Cad Site Plan’ qualified officials in the region who could prepare accurate and measured scaled site plans, which might help boost police image. Furthermore, this could eliminate demands of money by investigation officers.

As per Police Rule 25-13, a measured site plan would be prepared by expert personnel, but at present, police officers didn’t prepare it intentionally.

It was the sole responsibility of investigation officers to prepare these plans, but they would usually entrust the task to non-expert private architectures, said regional crime branch Superintendent of Police Abdul Qayyum Gondal.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2019