The community policing and the use of modern technologies and tools have helped tackling the trust deficit between the public and police and improving its performance;  manifest in the decline in the crime rate, Faisal Shehzad, District Police Officer, Mardan  spoke at the maiden consultative meeting of the working group on police reforms. The meeting was part of the project “Ulasi Police” an awareness and advocacy campaign undertaken by the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) – as part of USAID Small Grants and Ambassadors’ Fund Program – to strengthen the rule of law in KP province by promoting and disseminating the significant police reforms aimed at incorporating local communities’ policing needs and international human rights standards. The endeavor aims to tackle the trust deficit between the public and police, help KP police become an accountable and community-focused police force.

“We are receiving the feedback from public regarding these reforms and police is operating in local partnerships with the communities to curb the crimes from society”, said the DPO, Faisal Shehzad while adding that the KP police has been equipped with several modern tools of critical importance which have helped ensuring the society free of crime, including Identity Verification System (IVS), Vehicle Verification System (VVS), Criminal Record Verification System (CRVS), Hotspot Policing (Geo Tagging). The interventions of community policing have helped fostering improved and effective relationships with the community with the initiatives like Dispute Resolution Councils (DRCs) and Police Liaison Councils (PLCs) at the core of it. “Dispute Resolution Council (DRC) is the success story of KP Police and is fruitful for both police and public”, he told while adding that it had also minimized the burden of civil cases over the police. He said that the “Thana Culture” is changing now as the KP Police has introduced and established Police Assistance Lines (PAL) and Model Police Stations which are providing one window services to the public and are likely to win the hearts of many.

The presentation was followed by the open discussion – on some critical questions on Police Reforms – between the members of working group including police officers and prominent members of community from district Mardan.

The members of community unanimously endorsed the need for greater advocacy, awareness and propagation of these reforms – on the utilization and functioning of these initiatives – to the public. They conceded that there were improvements at the upper level in police department but a behavioral change was needed at all levels to improve the community-police relations. The participating police officials emphasized on the need of public-police partnerships to ensure the society free of crime and injustice.