The Karachi police Tuesday decided to induct at least 1,000 more retired army men into the police department where more than 7,000 positions are still vacant.
Also, noticing a “significant reduction” in overall crime situation in the city, the police authorities want the under-strength Sindh police to have 10,000 more cops to effectively deal with the fragile law and order situation in the province.
“At least 1,000 more ex-army soldiers shall be recruited based on past recruitment and their excellent performance in the field,” said city police spokesman Inspector Atiq Ahmad Shaikh.
The spokesman told Pakistan Today that some 1,200 army men were already working in the department. “And 1,000 more will be recruited soon,” he added.
This decision, Shaikh said, was taken during a high-level meeting held on Tuesday at Central Police Office with Additional IGP Karachi Ghulam Qadir Thebo in chair.
The meeting reviewed overall law and order situation in the city besides discussing ways and means to improve the performance of police. Those who attended the meeting include DIG East Munir Ahmed Shaikh, DIG West Tahir Naveed, DIG South Abdul Khaliq Shaikh, DIG Admin Ghulam Sarwar Jamali, all seven district SSPs, SSP SIU Farooq Awan, SSP ACAL Irfan Bahadur and four SSPs of investigation.
Urging the need to expedite recruitment process, the IGP told the meeting that presently some 7,239 posts were vacant in police department for various reasons.
These positions, he said, must be filled without any further waste of time. Proposing to add at least 10,000 vacancies in Sindh police, Thebo asked his officers to hire youths on son quota, technical staff and make general recruitment as soon as possible.
Once materialised, new induction will see 4,000 more cops in existing vacancies. Karachi police then would total at 37,000 force against the present strength of 26,181.
About crime situation, the city police chief said all major crime heads showed a “significant reduction”. Politically-motivated targeted killings in the city, Thebo said, had come down to 112 in October this year from the “highest” level of 270 in August 2013.
The police chief expressed his dissatisfaction over the issue of street crime which, he said, should be drastically improved. He asked the department to try their best to “fully” control the situation by the end of 2014.
The DIGP South and the SSP City were tasked to immediately restore peace in the violence-prone Lyari.
The DIGPs of East, West and South zones were ordered to fully back polio campaigns in their respective jurisdictions. The SSPs investigation were asked to immediately review situation and pay personal attention to solve the under investigation cases on priority.
Responding to a suggestion of DIGP South, Thebo asked the SSPs to set up community police units in their respective offices. Four additional desks must be set up to monitor issues pertaining to human rights, domestic violence, children protection and woman rights and gender equality.
Also came under discussion the Information Reports (RI) in which the meeting discussed inter-police coordination and intelligence sharing methods and procedures.
The meeting observed that the police were lacking vehicles, the most important logistics, agreeing that the number of mobile vans be increased at police stations and other units assigned to rapid response related duties.
The meeting also said that more CCTV cameras and technical equipment was required. Thebo asked his team to prepare fresh wish lists and let his office compile a common data in order to further push authorities for the provision of what was required.
To improve investigation side of the police, the meeting decided that IGP Thebo would propose up to 65 per cent increase in the salaries of investigation officers that would make the latter “fully motivated” and produce better results.
