Proposed Change in Police Order 2002
 

[B][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=3]Police for changes to Police Order 2002 [/SIZE][/FONT][/B]
[FONT=Verdana]Sunday, March 23,2008 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]LAHORE[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]: Senior officers of the Punjab Police have come up with proposals that envision merging the investigation and operations wings all over the province except for in the five city governments, sources told Daily Times on Thursday. The proposals also aimed to change the process of transferring a crime investigation, they added. The proposals were discussed at a meeting at the Central Police Office on Thursday. The provincial police officer (IGP), all additional inspectors general (AIG) and all deputy inspectors general attended.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]About merging the operations and investigation wings, the sources said that the wings should be under the control of the capital city police officer (CCPO) or city police officer (CPO) and not run by two separate people that reported to the AIG (investigation).[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The sources – who are associated with thrashing out irritants in the Police Order 2002 – said that the proposals would be sent to the Punjab government, which would work to include the new proposals in the Police Order 2002.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Shahbaz Sharif called for proposal: Sources added that Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister designate, wanted the order amended and senior police officers undertook the initiative to identify issues in the order and fix them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) insiders, who are considered as Sharif brothers’ advisers, confirmed the information about Shahbaz Sharif wanting changes in the Police Order 2002. About proposals prepared by the police, they said that the new chief minister would be happy with them.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The proposal to change the process of transferring a crime investigation envisages amending Article 18 of the Police Order 2002.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Section 1 of Article 18 stipulates that the head of investigation in a general police area other than the capital city district or city district shall be of the rank of additional inspector general of police. According to the proposed amendment, the head of investigation in a capital city district or city district shall be an officer not below the rank of senior superintendent of police (SSP), implying that a Grade-18, -19 or -20 officer can also head this wing.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Section 2 of the same article proposes that in a capital city district or city district, each police station shall have its staff organised in two wings: an operation wing headed by an station house officer (SHO) and an investigation officer not below the rank of sub-inspector who shall exercise the powers of the officer in charge of a police station for the purpose of investigation contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure and any other law in force. The staff of the investigation wing shall not be employed for duties other than investigation except with the approval of the provincial police officer (PPO), as it is being done currently.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The proposed amendment in Section 3 of the same article stipulates that in a capital city district or city district all registered cases shall be investigated by the investigation staff in the district under the supervision of the head of investigation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]According to the proposed amendment in Section 4, the head of investigation in a capital city district or city district shall be a deputy or an assistant superintendent of police. He shall verify the correctness of each investigation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]If his opinion differs from that of the investigation officer, the district’s head of investigation may order a first transfer of the investigation as provided for in Clause 7 of this article. The station investigation officer shall be responsible to the deputy or assistant superintendent of police concerned, who shall report to the head of investigation of the district.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]According to Section 5 of the article, the head of investigation in a capital city district or city district shall report to the CCPO or the CPO. Officers and staff subordinate to the CCPO or the CPO, who are not part of the investigation wing or their supervisory hierarchy, shall not interfere with the investigation process.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]Section 6 of Article 18 deals with the complex process of transfer of investigation. According to this section, a first transfer of investigation can be made only on the recommendation of a board headed by an officer not below the rank of SSP and two SPs, one being in charge of investigation of the district concerned.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The head of investigation of the general police area makes a final order. The second change has been allowed with the approval of the PPO or the CCPO, as the case may be.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]According to the proposed amendment in the said section, police stations in all districts other than the capital city and city districts shall have no divisions of staff into wings. In such police stations, the SHO will supervise investigations as provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Police Rules, and the sub-divisional police officers (SDPOs) and SP concerned shall exercise supervision over all investigations.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana]The SDPO shall verify all investigations of Special Reported Cases as provided in Clause 4 of this article and the district police officer may order a first change in case of a difference of opinion between the investigation officer and the SDPO, a method in vogue before the Police Order’s promulgation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][I][SIZE=1][B]Source:[/B][/SIZE][/I][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana][I][SIZE=1]www.southasianmedia.net/index_story.cfm?id=482564&category=Frontend&Country=PAKISTAN[/SIZE][/I][/FONT]