Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Inam Ghani on Monday sais officers against whom criminal cases are pending or whose service record is bad should never be posted as SHO, and directed all command officers to remove such SHOs from their posts by tomorrow and send report to Central Police Office.
The police chief said that the role of SHOs is crucial in implementing Police reforms, changing police station culture and improving the working of police stations.
IGP gave these orders while presiding over a meeting held at the Central Police Office as relevant issues related to deployment of SHOs and further improvement in police station matters were discussed in detail.
During the meeting the IG said the deployment of SHOs should be made more transparent and merit based, for which detailed guidelines are being issued to eradicate crime from the society and expedite the process of providing service delivery to the citizens and resolving their problems as well as services of competent officers with excellent service record and good reputation may be benefitted.
He further said that an officer who has not worked in the Investigation Wing or Police Station for two years as an investigator should never be posted as SHO, but he added that it will be necessary for the concerned officer to seek permission from the RPO for removal of any SHO before the period of three months.
The IG said that if any CPO or DPO deviates from these guidelines and appoints SHO, the concerned RPO will be authorized to undo the order, while the officers concerned will have to be held accountable for deviating from the guidelines issued for the deployment of SHOs. He emphasized that the purpose of the guidelines was to ensure that the services of competent, honest and reputed officers should be utilized and they should be appointed to the posts of SHOs.
Therefore, CCPO Lahore, all RPOs, CPOs and DPOs should ensure the deployment of SHOs under these instructions, During the meeting, Additional IG Establishment Azhar Hameed Khokhar and all RPOs, CPOs and DPOs of the province also presented their recommendations and suggestions regarding the appointment of SHOs. Instructing the officers, the IG Punjab said that from constable to officer level, if there is any criminal case against them, they should be suspended immediately and it should be suspended from its post till the said officer or official is acquitted.
He directed the DIG IT to add new monitoring features in the Central Database of Police Human Resources (Human Resource Management Information System) to make the deployment of SHOs more transparent, so that they may be benefitted in time of need.
