A CASE FOR POLICE

REFORMS IN PAKISTAN:
Policy Analysis

Abstract
In Pakistan, federal as well as provincial police services are responsible for carrying out law enforcement through three autonomous yet interdependent entities
including police, courts and prisons. Although the police services exist to establish the writ of the state and provide justice to the populace by maintaining law and
order, yet in Pakistan, police infrastructure is one of the most poorly managed organization in the state. Furthermore, a level of distrust exists between citizens and
the police since the police is aptly described as ill-equipped, poorly trained, deeply politicized, unnecessarily brutal and chronically corrupt. Therefore, police reforms
have emerged as a major priority for the Pakistani government in recent times, especially since an impartial and capable police force is crucial for further social and
economic development of Pakistan. It is also because the state has witnessed a deteriorating law and order situation in Pakistan, particularly due to the rise in
religious extremism and terrorism along with economic inequality. This has shown that the police services are increasingly incapable of maintaining law and order. In
this context, the present paper aims to explore the current situation of police reforms in Pakistan so that a set of effective policy alternatives, using the Policy Delphi
rankings based on certain assessment criteria such as efficiency, equity, welfare, liberty, security, legality, political feasibility/acceptability, and implementation, could
be devised in order to improve the situation of law enforcement in country.

Key findings
The findings addressed that the police system in Pakistan is not too flawed to fix and even the police service was found to be in favor of
improvement. Similarly, the analysis identified certain causes for the ineffectiveness of the police in Pakistan, including insufficient
recruitments and scant resources as the police to population ratio in the country is inadequate in dealing with rising crime rate, institution-
SDGs
al disconnect as lack of coordination among provincial police services often leads to poor information sharing and ineffective monitoring
of criminal activities, political challenges as the police is often used by the state to suppress dissent and demonize the opposition,
disregard for human rights since the high rate of crime has motivated an ill-equipped police force to choose torture or even killing as an
easier way to get rid of criminals, lack of modernization, poor public image, and corruption. However, institutional lethargy, high cost and
time required for restructuring, and lack of political and administrative will were found to be the major restraining forces for reforms in the
Pakistan police system. Furthermore, influence map results depicted certain policy actors that could influence the policy process, includ-
ing government, police services, and citizens/civil society. In addition to that, the study proposed significant policy alternatives for the
police reforms, including improved salary and working conditions of the police, fixing the shortage of police personnel, improved recruit-
ment and training of officers, increased accountability, improved public image of police, and reform in the criminal justice system.
Trade-offs existed between the different alternatives, primarily due to conflicting effects on different criteria. Improving salary and
working conditions of the police conflicted with the alternative of increasing the number of police personnel in terms of efficiency. Howev-
er, it was found that society would prefer a better equipped and better functioning police service that is capable at its job rather than more
personnel without the same level of performance. Both options were found to be administratively difficult, however, political favorability
was most likely to favor increased police personnel. Similarly, improving public image and improving recruitment and training were also
found conflicting in terms of equity and security. However, both were found feasible politically and administratively, yet improving public
image might be slightly favored more by the political rulers whereas society could value the latter alternative more since better recruited
and trained personnel could help them directly by alleviating their problems, which could also lead to an improved police image in the
long-term. Conclusively, the policy alternatives of increased accountability and improved salary and working conditions were found to be
the most viable options since they ranked highest as per the Policy Delphi Survey.
Implications Keywords
This study suggests that if political will is present then relevant legislation must be passed to make the
police reforms official. The administrative bureaucracy must be given clear short and long-term goals in Police Reforms Police System
Police Service Accountability
order to implement the reforms in full. The short-term goals can include rise in current wages of police Political Challenges
Law Enforcement
personnel, increased budgets for next fiscal year and improvement in equipment and inventory. In addition Justice Citizens
to that, performance levels should be checked electronically, through assessing the speed and volume of Police Infrastructure Criminal Justice System
Corruption Security
filing and resolving first investigation reports (FIRs) and keeping a check on police logs and registers. Legislation
Civil Society
Citizens of a locality could also be surveyed and interviewed to check their satisfaction levels with the Social Development Performance
police personnel of the area. A complaint line directly to police superiors or senior administrators could be Crime Policy Analysis
opened for citizens to file complaints if they witness any wrongdoing. In the long-term, structural changes
should be carried out in how crime is reported, recorded, and investigated. Collaboration with the session
courts is needed to ensure proper dispensation of justice and prosecution. The police institution itself can
be the best judge of how effective reforms have been. They can evaluate and monitor the situation along
with other government functionaries and independent experts. Although reforms may take time and use up
a lot of resources, if political will and public support are present then the whole society can ultimately
benefit from them.

Citation
Ayaz F., Nisar M.A. (2018) A case for police reforms in Pakistan: policy
analysis. Term Project, Suleman Dawood School of Business

*The full paper has been made available following consent

from all concerned parties that hold ownership of this
intellectual output.
Published under the Student Research
Series 2020 by the Centre for Business
and Society, LUMS