Crime & Justice

Specialised police schools train thousands of KP officers

By Javed Khan

Police officers learn how to collect evidence and start an investigation at the Police School of Investigation in Hayatabad in October. [Courtesy of KP Police]

Police officers learn how to collect evidence and start an investigation at the Police School of Investigation in Hayatabad in October. [Courtesy of KP Police]

PESHAWAR -- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Police have so far trained 12,400 officers in six specialised police schools opened during the past three years, boosting police capacity, say officials.

"The first institution set up by the KP Police for specialised training was the School of Investigation launched in June 2014 in Hayatabad, Peshawar," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Dera Ismail Khan Police Syed Fida Hassan told Pakistan Forward.

Since then, five other institutions were established: the School of Intelligence in Abbottabad (July 2014), School of Explosive Handling in Nowshera (February 2015), School of Public Disorder and Riot Management in Mardan (April 2015), School of Information Technology in Peshawar (September 2015) and School of Tactics in Peshawar (August 2015).

Better training for men and women

"Out of 12,400 police officers trained in these institutions, 460 were female," said Hassan, who served as DIG for Internal Accountability and Training in 2016.

The police officers who have studied in these facilities are better trained on a variety of modern security concepts, he said.

"Their presentation skills have improved," he said. "They are more aware of the basics of intelligence gathering, investigation, handling of explosives and public disorder after their courses in the specialised schools."

The schools teach core investigation skills, gender-responsive policing and child-sensitive investigation, as well as basic and advanced explosives handling, among other relevant courses, he said.

The police set up most of the schools without requiring additional funds from the government, he said.

"All these schools were set up to build the capacity of the police and to improve their skills in the relevant fields," former KP Police inspector general Nasir Khan Durrani told Pakistan Forward.

The schools have imparted all the required training to male and female officers to improve their basic knowledge of intelligence gathering, investigation and explosive handling, he said.

Specialists visit the schools regularly to deliver lectures and interact with the officers in training as part of their capacity building, he added.

Irreversible reform

"These schools received proper legal status in the KP Police Act 2017, so these initiatives cannot be rolled back," said Durrani.

"At the KP School of Investigation, the police officers receive training on the use of technology, improved public relations, hot spot policing, medico-legal reporting, DNA [collection], cellular [phone] forensics, fingerprinting and other matters," Deputy Superintendent of Police in Peshawar and former trainer at the Police School of Investigation Tahir Khan told Pakistan Forward.

These modern and specialised courses have enabled police officers to learn modern methods of investigation and proper collection of evidence, added Khan.

"The training of the police force in the province has improved ... since the setting up of specialised schools all over KP," KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak March 16 said during a farewell gathering for Durrani, the retiring KP police chief, at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines in Peshawar.

"Because of the training, capacity building and zero political interference, the standard of the KP Police has shot up," said Khattak.

Apart from the specialised schools, police recruitment centres have made various changes to their courses to raise training standards, said officials.

"We have designed special training for the moharrars [the officers who register cases and look after the internal affairs of a police station] so they are taught how to lodge a complaint and how to keep a record," DIG Fasihuddin, commandant of the Police Training College in Hangu, told Pakistan Forward.

"We have also designed courses for the police officers working in courts," he said.

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