People expect encounters of murderers, rapists and ransom kidnappers: IG Punjab

[Naveed Yaseen]

Punjab IGP orders zero tolerance for crime

* Dogar directs field officers to develop a relation of confidence with people to get latest information on crime situation

By Imran Asghar

RAWALPINDI: Inspector General of Punjab Police (IGP) Tariq Saleem Dogar on Thursday directed the local police to counter the rising incidents of kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, house robbery, burglary, murder, car snatching and theft and develop a relation of confidence with the general public to collect the latest information about crime.

Addressing a press conference at the office of the Regional Police Officer (RPO), the IGP directed the police high-ups to adopt zero tolerance for the complaints of corruption in police department because the government had increased their salaries and they should justify their positions by performing well.

Regional Police Officer (RPO) Aslam Tareen, City Police Officer (CPO) Rao Muhammad Iqbal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Yasin Faroo and divisional police officers (DPOs) of Jhelum, Attock and Chakwal also attended the press conference followed by a crime review meeting.

Replying to a question about the rising incidents of police encounter in the Punjab with hardened criminals, the IGP said that police would not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands. He said it was not his policy to kill the hardened criminals in fake police encounters. He further said that people expected that the criminals involved in kidnapping for ransom, murder and rape cases should be killed before their production before the court.

He said the police were following the directives of the Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and had good coordination with all the secret intelligence agencies and the federal government to root out terrorism from the society. He emphasized public intelligence was the need of the hour to prevent terrorism adding that the gap between the society and police stations could hinder this mode of information.

He directed all the field officers to develop a relation of confidence with the general public to collect the latest information about terrorism. He admitted that the people did not share information with the police for fear of victimization by the police.

The IGP said that he had directed the Rawalpindi police to counter the incidents of kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, house robbery, burglary, murder, car snatching and theft. “All the field officers have been directed to adopt ‘zero tolerance’ for the complaints of corruption in police department because the government had increased their salaries and they should justify their positions by performing well,” said Dogar.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg11_5