Beyond Targets: Why Police Reform Must Include Fair Incentives and Resources

Beyond Targets: Why Police Reform Must Include Fair Incentives and Resources

Beyond Targets: Why Police Reform Must Include Fair Incentives and Resources The Punjab government’s initiative to recover unpaid traffic challans through the city-wide surveillance cameras is likely to significantly strengthen traffic enforcement. The vehicle that violates the rules at one city will not be able to avoid getting challans after cameras take pictures from other cities.

This raises a bigger question. Why shouldn't the staff members who do exceptionally well in enforcement get perks besides regular salary?
For example, an officer of the name Azhar Gujjar or any other responsible traffic official, who gets out and is doing their duty, probably has to deal with working under difficult conditions, and even so, they have to work quite a few extra hours. If a traffic cop contributes to the recovery of a million rupees' worth of fines, offering a small and openly acknowledged performance-based incentive would not be unreasonable. The officer's performance can be rewarded with a reward even as low as Rs100,000, as long as it is done in compliance with proper audit rules, which should encourage a better level of efficiency and also serve to praise publicly. Beyond Targets: Why Police Reform Must Include Fair Incentives and Resources

Traffic police officers do so much more than just issuing fines. Controlling traffic flow, reacting to incidents, supporting police operations and making arrangements for VIP movements are their other duties. Traffic police officers can be found at congested crossings in both sweltering heats and freezing cold weather for prolonged hours.

Practising as a lawyer in Lahore, I have come across traffic police officers who have always been cordial and ready to assist me. Moreover, I have filed a service matter representing a traffic police sub-inspector before the Service Tribunal after his suspension. My exposure to the working of the system and meeting police officers firsthand have, therefore, only strengthened my perception that it is most often an unrepresentative image of the police that is being held at the grass roots. Beyond Targets: Why Police Reform Must Include Fair Incentives and Resources

This is certainly not the case when it comes to the Punjab Police as a whole. Rather, the core problem remains the environment that police officers find themselves in at work.

Police have to register complains, make a police report, do investigations, issue fines and follow them up throughout the trial. All of this needs money, a fact not lost on many police officers who are working with a very low wage of about Rs70,000 monthly and are supposed to pay investigation costs all from their own pocket.

This financial lack can easily create the kind of deficiency that the officers end up being blamed for. A top officer recently shared with me that even each DPO has an allocated investigation budget, the money may not go directly to the officers who actually carry out the investigation. Beyond Targets: Why Police Reform Must Include Fair Incentives and Resources

If the government wants more of the investigations conducted, and to get a better compliance from the population, they have to put enough money into these functions. After all, it's just not possible for officers earning a modest sum of Rs70,000 a month to pay for their own personal expenses and at the same time resist whatever financial pressure is coming their way.

Nevertheless, this is not an argument for justifying bribery. Any officer who illegally takes money is supposed to face consequences but at the same time, this accountability process must be supported by a deep-level change in the system itself.

Officers are not expected by law and government to be the means of revenue and enforcement. They are, however, being asked by the government to generate revenue from millions of fines and, in the meantime, process thousands of cases while still fulfilling their security related duties. Therefore, the government must do its part and supply enough resources and also offer good working conditions and equitable performance incentives. Beyond Targets: Why Police Reform Must Include Fair Incentives and Resources

A quality police force cannot only be attained by giving performance bonuses. It also involves investing your money and human resources in such a ​‍​‌‍​‍‌way.