The Supreme Court’s directive, during a hearing of a suo motu notice against torture by police officials in Chiniot, to revive the district public safety commissions is a positive move towards police reform.

But more action is required to transform the police into a professional, people-friendly force. The creation of public safety commissions is a highlight of the Police Order 2002 reforms and an unprecedented measure aimed at making the police more service-oriented by ensuring its oversight by elected and nominated commission members. However, since 2002, the establishment of these commissions has been sporadic.

Even where they have been set up, the commissions have not resolved public grievances against the police. This is due as much to the lack of political will and bureaucratic support for the reforms as to the introduction of subsequent amendments to the Police Order 2002.

Since independence, there have been many attempts at reforming the police. These attempts comprised more than 20 commissions, committees and foreign missions on police reforms but no major recommendation could be put in place until the Police Order 2002. However, a modern police force can only come about if we stop amending and diluting the police order and invest wholeheartedly in reform.

The latter will not only have to include empowering accountability mechanisms and managerial bodies, like the public safety commissions and the national police management board, but also address other issues like inadequate training and investigation facilities, poor salaries and service conditions, structural disparities between senior police leadership and junior officers, and the lack of a standardised system of hiring, transferring and promotion. Police functioning can also be improved by having parliament review the Police Order 2002 and by setting up a parliamentary subcommittee to deal exclusively with policing.