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Punjab: Police top brass start process to get more cops in duty in stations
DGP has written a letter to all SSPs and commissioners of police to give a detailed break-up of the number of cops they have deployed for administrative work.
With reports of shortage of staff in police stations across the state, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora has written a letter to all SSPs and commissioners of police to give a detailed break-up of the number of cops they have deployed for administrative work.
Sources told HT this was part of a rationalisation exercise that the top brass at the state police headquarters is keen to implement. The DGP wrote the letter last week, after getting repeated letters from district police chiefs who complained of shortage of staff in their districts and cited it as the main reason for failing to effectively tackle crime in areas under them.
“The letter was written after a senior superintendent of police posted in Doaba region made a request for sanctioning of more cops. We found that the biggest reason for the shortage was that more than 200 cops were put on administrative duty in the SSP office itself. Such wastage of human resources needs to be checked at all costs,” said a senior official from the administration branch at the police headquarters.
“We are going to check the deployment made for routine administrative work. The extra deployment will be shifted to police stations,” the senior official added.
‘Too many wings have led to shortage ’
An SSP posted in the Malwa region, who had, a few months ago, sought extra force, said, “Over time, too many wings have been created in the police force. This is the main reason why extra deployment has been made for administrative work.” Another district police chief seconded him.
“Over the past five years, at least five wings — including a separate investigation wing, special task force for nabbing gangsters and another one for catching drug smugglers has been created.”
Other officer also add that the focus of the police needed to be on cracking crimes, something that could happen only when there was adequate staff to look after cases.
