LAHORE - Seven hundred cadets yesterday passed out of the Lahore police training college to join the first-ever Dolphin Squad, a unique patrolling force to exclusively fight street-crimes in Lahore.
A replica of the Turkish national police, the Dolphin Force is equipped with heavy bikes and modern gadgetry. Some Turkish police officers assisted the Punjab authorities for months in raising the new patrolling units.
Police officers say they believe the non-stop patrolling by Dolphin units on busy roads and in narrow streets will surely downgrade the crime rate in the metropolis. In Lahore, the police report at least 20 to 30 armed robberies everyday.
The provincial government had announced the establishment of this patrolling police in June 2014. The first batch comprising 688 Dolphin police cadets yesterday passed out of the college where they underwent months-long hectic training.
The three-hour long passing out ceremony took place at the Chuhng police training college yesterday. The entire provincial hierarchy including chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera, provincial ministers, parliamentary secretaries, MPAs, Punjab chief secretary, secretaries, and top police officers attended the ceremony. Similarly, the ambassadors of Turkey, Iran, and China were also present on this occasion.
During the passing parade ceremony, young police officers showed their skills and energies before a large audience by performing stunts and acrobats. Spectators applauded amid drum beating as dolphin squads marched past before the guests.
Meanwhile, the best cadets with outstanding performance were given special prizes and commendatory certificates by chief guest Shehbaz Sharif.
The chief minister while addressing the participants termed the establishment of the new police units as a landmark and said that the initiative would help make the cities and villages more peaceful.
“Dolphin Force in Pakistan is a great achievement and a landmark in the policing history of this country,” Shehbaz Sharif said while addressing the ceremony. “This is really a good day, a step forward in augmenting the efforts of police to make cities and villages more peaceful”.
In his address, the chief minister also condemned the recent terror attacks in Turkey and Brussels and called for united efforts to defeat what he said “the menace of terrorism”.
Earlier, Punjab Inspector general of police Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera while speaking on this occasion said that the dolphin training had been completed in two phases within a period of 120 days with the cooperation of Turkish police’s instructors.
He said that the first batch had been handed over 300 heavy motorbikes with 550 helmets, besides, all required accessories and gadgets. He further said that a separate police line for the Dolphin Force in area of Walton Road would be completed shortly.
Similarly, independent offices for dolphin force would be established in all police divisions of the metropolis.
According to the SOP devised for the dolphin force, the police chief said, a squad of two motorcycles with four policemen would patrol on city roads to fight criminals.
“Dolphin Force is ready to chase the criminals at all roads, streets, and in congested areas of metropolitan Lahore with a spirit to make the lives and properties of Lahorites more secure and safe,” Sukhera said. The successful launch of this force would not only help control street crimes but also improve the consecutive patrolling and picketing system in the provincial capital, the IGP said.
Lahore DIG (Operations) Dr Haider Ashraf while talking to The Nation yesterday said that the crime rate would further decrease in the provincial metropolis when the Dolphin Force would start patrolling city roads. “It will add a new vigour to the largest law enforcing agency in its fight against criminals. This initiative will surely help police maintain peace in the densely populated districts,” Haider Ashraf said.
The operations police chief said the new patrolling police units would not only create a soft image of the police but also would create a sense of security among the citizens.