Dolphin Force

Dolphin Force
ڈولفن فورس
Two Dolphin Force officers patrolling the major road of Lahore

Dolphin Force is an elite security unit of the Punjab Police to deal with street crime.[1][2] It was launched by the Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Lahore in first phase and later in the five other major cities of the province in second phase.[3][4] 696 policemen were trained in the second phase.[5]

Criticism and controversies

Mismanagement in the project

Despite spending one billion on the project, the Dolphin force was one of the most mismanaged and misplaced project, therefore, known as white elephant for Punjab govt.[6] Instead of basic police reforms in Punjab and providing them infrastructure and resources the new force was raised. Few of such examples are following:[7]

  • Each officer was given single piece of uniform which he has to wear each day without opportunity to change it. The 50,000 piece parachute apparel turns out to be unfit for hot weather in Lahore and was replaced latter with cotton uniform wasting huge amount of public money.
  • A 500CC Honda heavy bikes purchased for 1.5 million each doesn't have any spare parts or repairing expertise, a minor fault in bikes resulted in parking them back without any replacements.
  • A expensive Helmet worth Rs. 35,000 containing blue tooth, however, the equipment was not put to full usage, for example, the blue tooth was never integrated to central communication network.
  • With the salary as low as 22,000 several constables were found taking bribes and making monthly deals to provide safe passages to people on regular basis. Even four constables were dismissed after caught red handed.[8]

Street crime rate in Lahore

Despite spending billion on the project and its high operational cost, the crime rate of Lahore soared in early 2016,[9] during start[10] and mid of 2017,[11] only in July, 2017 the crime surged by 13.37% in Lahore.[12] Although the project received continuous funds, however, it was unable to deliver in any form.[13]

References

  1. Hassan, Waseem Riaz, Daniyal (2015-09-21). "Dolphin Force: Punjab government's white elephant?". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  2. "Dolphin Force launched to tackle street crime". The Nation. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  3. "Dolphin Force launched in Faisalabad - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  4. Correspondent, The Newspaper's (2016-05-26). "Dolphin Force plan for Bahawalpur". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  5. "Dolphin Force set to expand further: CM - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 2017-10-22. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  6. "Dolphin force Punjab Govt's white elephant? : The Dawn". The Dawn. 2015-09-21.
  7. "Is Lahore's Dolphin Force a waste of public funds?: The Express Tribune". The Dawn. 2016-07-09.
  8. "Dolphin force men arrested for bribe: The Dawn". The Dawn. 2016-06-17.
  9. "Crime rate on the rise in Lahore? : Dunya TV". Dunya TV. 2016-12-01.
  10. "Lahore spike in crime rate? : The nation". The Dawn. 2017-01-01.
  11. "High crime rate in Sadar division lahore : The tribune". The Tribune. 2017-10-22.
  12. "Crime surged by 13.37% in July, 2017 Lahore : The tribune". The Tribune. 2017-07-09.
  13. "Despite receiving billions Dolphine force failed to curb crimes? : Dunya TV". Dunya TV. 2017-11-22.


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