Punjab Police has finally moved in to legalise the office of district police officer (DPO) across the province after a lapse of almost a decade since the promulgation of the New Police Order, Pakistan Today has learnt.
DPOs across Punjab have been drawing their salaries without the creation of the posts against the old nomenclature of superintendent of police (SP) and senior superintendent of police (SSP) for the last 10 years, clearly indicating the negligence and careless of the high-ups. Budget estimates of 2011-12 reveal that there are 13 posts of SSPs and 147 of SPs across Punjab, while no posts for DPOs have been mentioned even though 36 DPOs are working in the province.
A senior official further said SP and SSP were grade 18 and 19 posts respectively. “In some districts an SP is heading the district police while in others the SSP has been posted as a DPO, while all SSPs are not necessarily DPOs,” the official added.
“The Police Department has finally woken up to the reality and Additional Inspector General Aftab Sultan has finally taken the initiative for the regularisation of the posts of DPOs after almost a decade…however they still don’t know which post to convert and which to retain and what summary to send to the Finance Department,” a source seeking anonymity said. Another senior official said such an important matter escaping attention of police-high ups for such a long time spoke volumes about the administration’s efficiency, adding that a lot of problems will arise now because of the delay.