LAHORE: The Punjab police has introduced a discipline matrix across the province in order to restore the people’s trust in the department and maintain accountability and discipline in the force.
The concept was borrowed from some advanced countries and introduced for the first time in Pakistan in order to map out a disciplinary procedure by which no officers could punish any official over external pressure or because of his/her own grudge.
According to a handout issued on Friday, under this new scheme an officer will be bound to follow the devised procedure of this discipline mechanism, which defines 13 types of misconduct. These include absence from duty, professional misconduct, carelessness, official negligence, negligence during security duty, mistake in investigation, registering of wrong sections during investigations and registration of cases deliberately, corrupt practices -- including getting money from facilitator of criminals, kickbacks, illegal possession of a criminal’s belongings, extortion, illegal gratification by their companions etc.
The punishments will be awarded according to the gravity of the misconduct, and this concept would help discourage the practice of actions on the basis of grudges.
“The concept of developing a discipline matrix for police forces is not new, as a number of police forces in advanced countries have them in place to spell out options for applying fair and consistent action,” reads the police handout.
The inspector general of police (IGP) has directed all field officers to work for restoration of the public’s trust in police. He asked them to take action against police following the discipline matrix and ensure its implementation without any pressure or personal vendetta.
(Daily Dawn)
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