LAHORE  - For the very first time in Lahore, police on Monday formally launched IT application packages named “golden hour” and “toolkit” for crime investigations.
The plan prepared by the investigation wing of Lahore police in collaboration with the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and a cellular phone company will help investigators track down criminals technically and precisely.
“Once an incident of heinous crime happens, the first hour will be “golden hour” to search and collect evidences from the crime scene. At least 100 investigators are given proper training for this purpose,” says Lahore police chief.
After inaugurating state-of-the-art initiative at Police Lines Qila Gujjar Singh on Monday, Additional-IG Muhammad Amin Wains also told reporters that the plan would help solve heinous crimes in the provincial metropolis. “How criminals can be brought to justice promptly if evidences are not collected thoroughly (from the crime scene)?” the capital city police officer questioned.
He further said that the police investigators would work as crime scene investigators as far as crime scene response, evidence collection, and crime scene and evidence photography is concerned.
Earlier, Lahore investigation police Chief SSP Rana Ayaz Saleem gave an in-depth briefing about the golden hour and toolkit applications. DIG (Operations) Haider Ashraf, senior officers, in-charges of the investigation wing of Lahore police, and representatives of PITB and mobile company were also present on this occasion.
Highlighting salient features of the project, SSP (Investigations) Ayaz Saleem said that initially crime incidents of five different natures have been included in the Golden Hour project including bomb blast, kidnapping for ransom, murder, dacoity-cum- murder and rape. In such a case, the in-charge investigation of the concerned police station will respond to the crime happening within minutes. The investigators will be bound to cordon off the crime scene immediately besides collecting evidences including blood spots, fingerprints, explosives, and other substantial evidences and material within the first hour of the happening.
“The first hour (after any crime happening) is the most important moment as far evidences collection is concerned. The more the evidence collection is delayed, the lesser are the chances to solve the mystery,” city’s top investigator said while giving a briefing about the plan. Because of this logic, Ayaz said, the project has been given the name of golden hour and 100 police officials including In-charge investigations have been imparted proper training for this job.
In the golden hour, the in-charge investigation will take photograph of the crime scene and make a video which will be mailed to the Criminals Record Office (CRO) by using 3G mobile phone technology. This is an important initiative to preserve evidences in cases of crimes of heinous nature, he added.
Under the second application which is investigation toolkit, at last eight facilities are available in CRO branch including Nadra data, call data, location tracing, record of stolen vehicles, and record of registered vehicles. This information will also be shared with the relevant investigation officers and admin officers through the mobile phone applications.
Addressing the participants of the meeting, CCPO Amin Wains said that all policies of Lahore police are aimed at solving the problems of common man and by providing them justice at grass root level. He hoped that this initiative would prove a milestone in the history of Lahore police with regard to arrests of organized gangsters.
He also said that recently launched projects of admin officers’ deployment in police stations, sharp cops, soft cops, and mobile tracking units are a few working examples. Such policies are being implemented to reform the traditional policing in the provincial metropolis, he added.
He also said that following the appointment of admin officers in police stations, there is a visible change in police culture. “Our plus point is this that we have the support of the community and the provincial government in this regard, he emphasized.
Meanwhile, the Lahore police chief also thanked Punjab Information Technology Board and others for preparing investigation toolkits and golden hour projects.