KHANEWAL   -   District Police Officer Asad Sarfraz Khan said that the protection of lives and properties of the people was the first priority of police.

During a meeting with senior journalists here, he said that quick response from the police would reduce crime rate in the district. The DPO added that the doors of his office were always open for public, saying “There is no place in police department for negligent cops.”

The DPO said that according to the vision of IG Punjab, police must protect the rights of women, monitories and the underprivileged of the society. “In order to win public trust, we have to change our attitude and remain completely apolitical, courteous and impartial,” he pointed out.

He added: “We have to focus on our capacity building by improving the standards of training. The complaints about police attitude and non-registration of cases should end now. We also have to ensure evidence-based transparent investigations with just and equal application of the law.”

The DPO said that to check the performance of police help line 15 on a daily basis, he was personally monitoring call data and response time by the district police. He added that he was determined to establish an ideal police helpline system as per international standards.

The DPO informed the delegation that the district police had busted dozens of criminal gangs involved in heinous crime and recovered booty worth millions of rupees i.e. gold ornaments, cash, arms and drugs. He welcomed the journalists’ suggestions to further improve the performance of 15 and the police. He urged journalists to highlight the issues related to police in a positive manner, assuring that these issues would be resolved on a priority basis.

The delegation was led by Anjum Bashir Ahmed. Other members of the delegation were: Qulzam Bashir Ahmed, Khalid Mehmood Ch, Manzoor Hussain Bhatti, Ch Sabir Saleem, Mujtaba Khan and Saeed Shahid.