Punjab aims to centralise data on criminals

Dec 17, 2016

LAHORE: The Punjab police chief has issued orders to enter the fingerprints, pictures and details of arrested criminals into the Criminal Record Management System.

Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera issued these directives while chairing a meeting with senior officials at the Central Police Office in Lahore on Friday. The objective of the moot was to evaluate the progress of projects on police welfare and information technology among others.

The IGP stressed it was crucial to match the data with the records stored in the Centralised Monitoring Room through an authentic system, as maintaining a complete history of perpetrators would help bring such individuals to justice.

Punjab Additional IGP Operations/Investigation Captain (Retd) Arif Nawaz, Additional IGP Welfare and Finance Shoaib Dastgir, DIG IT Shahid Hanif, Punjab DIG Operations Aamir Zulfiqar Khan, DIG Welfare Waseem Siyal, AIG Logistics Humayun Bashir Tarar AIG Admin and Security Zubair Dreshak, AIG Monitoring Ghazi Salahuddin, AIG Complaints Syed Khurram Ali and other senior officers were also present

Sukhera ordered the DIG IT to ensure the data of all criminals of the province was entered into the Criminal Record Management System.

Hanif told the IGP that fingerprints, pictures and other relevant details of more than 260,000 criminals had been recorded in the system, while the process of entering the remaining data was under way on a priority basis.

The police chief inquired about the progress of other IT projects and instructed officials to make sure the online facility to register FIRs and daily reports was made operational by the beginning of the New Year.

While giving a briefing on the police welfare initiative, DIG Welfare Waseem Siyal said that Guzara Allowance ATM Cards have been issued to widows and heirs of policemen who died in the line of duty. The monthly stipend is now being sent to families through these ATM cards.

Some new cases for ATM cards have been filed and are being assessed while cards for eligible families would be issued within two weeks.

Siyal said regular monthly inspection and account checking of all Punjab police’s petrol pumps was being conducted.

The IGP suggested opening service stations and tyre shops at these petrol pumps to increase business. Resources earned through these facilities could be utilised to improve welfare projects for the force.

Sukhera asked AIG Complaints Syed Khurram Ali about grievances being received at the 8787 Police Complaint Center.

He instructed the official to deal with each complaint on an urgent basis and according to the principles of justice. Delays in addressing complainants should not be tolerated and departmental action must be taken against responsible officials, the IGP directed.

Lahore police have completed collecting the fingerprints of 700,000 suspects nabbed over the last decade by using the Automated Fingerprint Information System in collaboration with the Punjab Information Technology Board.

Crime Registration Office (CRO) SP Omar Riaz Cheema revealed that the scope of the project was being broadened to cover the entire province. Data of 1.2 million suspects, available with the Punjab Fingerprint Bureau, was being added to the system. Police have completed scanning 200,000 of the fingerprints.

(Tribune)

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