Police Services in Corona virus pandemic period including all precationary measures

1. Dr. Naeem Zeeshan Shaikh
(M.Sc, MD-AM/ UNPM)
Criminologist, Gender Mainstreaming Expert
Former Chief Law Instructor, Police College, Karachi
National Training Consultant, UNODC
Karachi, Pakistan

2. Module # Details
1 Introduction and objectives
2 Corona virus pandemic
3 Types of Crimes
3.1 Cognizable Crimes
3.2 Non-Cognizable Crimes
4 Sex and Gender
5 Gender Based Violence
6 Police Duties and Responsibilities in General
7
Police Duties and Responsibilities in Corona virus
pandemic era including Dos and Don'ts

4.  The ongoing corona virus pandemic in
countries around the world has created responses
that have severely impacted people across the
globe.
 The pandemic infection has the potential to
cause more death, illness, and social and
economic disruption than most other threats
faced by law enforcement
 Police, unlike army personnel, are very much
enmeshed in public dealing either in pandemic era
due to their institutional role

5.  As law enforcement executives police has a
key role to control and minimize violent crime,
the threat of terrorism, other policing issues, and
the additional corona virus pandemic duties
 Police is busy in multiple duties to maintain
the order and peace by adopting the saftey
measures
 To update and facilitate police officers, the
UNODC has planned to hold distant learning
classes about pandemic and duties to be
performed in the pandemic era

6.  In this distant learning importance and ways
of social distancing in different situations would
be discussed
 Use of media and social media as an
additional instrument to contact the public and to
disseminate any directions issued by the
competent authorities
 As the situation is not normal, isolation and
quarantine are only solution to prevent the
pandemic, UNODC has prepared a comprehensive
distant learning program for police officers to
ensure safety, respect, responsibility and security
of both police and public

7.  Police officers who are busy to maintain the
order, peace and law, and have more emphasize
to control numbers of infectious persons/
patients to handle any untoward situation in
coming future
 Police has key roles in pandemic era like to
ensure safety of public and also ensure safety of
their own selves as well
 Routine capacity building courses to improve
the knowledge, skills and attitude have been dis-
continued, thus UNODC planed to organize these
valuable distant learning courses

8.  In this distant learning we will discuss about
the strategies to disperse the mob, social
gatherings are prohibited, the district police is
ordered to break up gatherings to enforce social
distancing and are told to use their public-
address systems to warn groups — even kids
playing — that their actions put them “at risk and
could result in severe illness and even death.”
 Miscellaneous Police duties and
responsibilities by adopting safety measures will
be discussed

10.  Corona viruses are a group of
related viruses that cause diseases in
mammals and birds. In humans, corona
viruses cause Respiratory Tract Infection (RTI)
that can range from mild to lethal.
 Present Corona virus is known as COVID-
19 and has become a pandemic which has
affected hundred of thousands people around
the world and still effecting the world.

11.  Sore Throat
 High grade fever
 Dry cough
 Tiredness
 Body ache
 Breathlessness
 Pneumonia

12.  Children
 Old aged people
 People with severe illness
 People with asthma
 People with Cancer
 People with HIV/ AIDS
 People with Rheumatoid Arthritis (Joints
Pain)
 People with Diabetes/ High Blood Pressure

13.  All the other people who may come into
contact with corona virus i-e,:
 Doctors
 Paramedical staff
 Ambulance drivers
 Police officers
 Other Law enforcement agencies
personnel
 Relatives/ friends of affected person

15.  Cognizable crimes
 Non-cognizable crimes

17.  Cognizable crimes refer to the heinous or
serious nature of crimes i-e:
 Murder
 Attempt to murder
 Rape
 Kidnap, kidnapping for ransom
 Drug trafficking
 Human trafficking
 Cyber crimes and other serious nature
crimes.

18.  Police has to lodge FIR and conduct the
Investigation which includes:
 Crime Scene Investigation
 Case file preparation
 Arrest of accused/offenders
 Search and seizure
 Send the Accused/ Victims for Medico
legal certificates (MLCs)
 Interview and Interrogation
 Visit of Hospitals/ Medico legal officers
(MLOs) to follow the case
 Assist the Prosecutor and Court

20.  These are mild in nature, no Investigation
is usually required until or unless not
directed by the Magistrate/ Court, this
includes:
 Assault
 Cheating
 Forgery
 Affray & Abusing etc
 In this case, Police has to register it in
Daily Report Register and complainant will
be asked to contact the Magistrate for
further proceedings, if desire.

22.  Sex: Refers to all the biological physical
attributes separating women, Eunuchs
(gynandromorph/ transgender) and men
 Gender: Refers to the cultural/ societal
attributes derived from sex differences.

23.  Sex: physical characteristics of sexes
 Primary sex characteristics: reproductive
organs
 Secondary sex characteristics: the body
attributes of each sex

24.  Women:
 Pendulous breasts for
lactation
 Wide pelvis for childbirth
 Men:
 Facial hair
 Greater grip strength
 Larger hearts and lungs
 Narrow pelvis

25.  Gender: the cultural
attributes arising from sex
differences
 “Cultural elaboration and
meanings assigned to the
biological differentiation
between the sexes”
 Examples
 Gender roles: bread
winning, child rearing
 Behavior: emotional
expression, assertiveness

27.  Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence
directed at an individual based on his or her
sex, gender identity or expression of socially
defined norms of masculinity and femininity.
Both men and women can experience GBV.
GBV can take various forms and is
experienced differently by women and girls
around the world, but all forms have gender
inequality at the core.
 Gender Based Violence (either in form of
cognizable or non-cognizable crimes)

28.  Gender based violence can be occurred
either in cognizable and or non cognizable
forms. Gender based violence include:
 Socio-economic violence
 Domestic violence
 Sexual assault/ violence
 Rape/ gang rape
 Physical violence
 Psychological violence
 Physiological violence
 Emotional violence

29.  Major causes for the GBV are:
 Patriarchy
 Inhuman treatment due to superioplexy
 Gender inequality
 Abuse of power
 Stereo type myths against women and girls
 Brutal customs and rites against women
and girls
 Usually women are not allowed to say,
argue, resist, ask or to get justice as
defined by the law
 women are assumed as private property of
men

30.  Stress, Anxiety and even depression
 Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
 Fear, anger and shame
 Hormonal Imbalancing, infertility
 Social stigma, social isolation
 Misbehavior with others
 Getting emotional, depraved
 Addiction, suicidal and or homicidal
thoughts etc
 Anemia, Leucorrhoea, dysmenorrhea even
amenorrhea etc

31.  The global conversation about GBV, and
advocacy to prevent it, has increased
considerably in recent years, drawing more
resources to building an understanding of the
problem and ways to address it. Efforts to end
GBV normally fall into one of three categories:
 1) Primary prevention – preventing GBV from
occurring to women and girls who have not
previously experienced violence and
preventing new occurrences from happening
to those who have already experienced it.

32.  2) Secondary prevention (often called
“response”) – preventing further violence
and/or providing support for survivors of
violence. This usually includes service level
interventions in health and other social
service settings.
 3) Tertiary prevention (often part of
response) – support with long-term legal,
advocacy and psychosocial needs.

33.  Generally, police have duties:
 (a) To effectively investigate all alleged
incidents of violence against women;
 (b) To conduct all investigations in a
manner that respects the rights and needs of
each woman without needlessly adding to the
existing burden experienced by the victim;
 (c) To take action to support and protect all
victims of crime;
 (d) To prevent crime, maintain public order
and enforce laws

34. Responding officers of GBV have
responsibilities:
 To quickly separate the parties.
 To take steps to ensure the safety of the
victim, including any children who may be
present.
 To assist any party in obtaining medical
assistance, if necessary.
 To ascertain if language is a barrier and
arrange to provide a translator when
necessary. Children or family members
should not be used as interpreters.

35.  To gather and preserve evidence in
accordance with the police service’s
investigative procedures, which should
include making detailed notes of the actions
and utterances of the parties and a detailed
occurrence report regardless of whether any
charges are brought or an offence is alleged.
 To ensure that any children at the scene
are provided with appropriate support/
assistance as required, including referrals to
appropriate agencies.

36.  To make detailed notes, including the
actions and utterances of all the parties
involved.
 To conduct detailed interviews with all
victims and witnesses.
 To assist the victim with a personal safety
plan.
 To interrogate the offender or alleged
offender (at the police station)
 Always remember that harmful traditional
stereotype thoughts can result inequality in
gender and may be biased investigation, this
practice is essential to be avoid.

37.  To complete a detailed occurrence report
for every domestic violence occurrence,
regardless of whether any charges are
brought, and to enter that information on
the police service’s information system for
future reference
 Online complaint system like call to 15
by the survivors can be very effective
especially in the lockdown period and
or in general as well to get protected and
to get justice

39.  As part of law enforcement, generally police officers
have to perform some major responsibilities i-e,:
 Protecting the life and property
 maintaining the order
 maintaining the peace
 enforcing laws
 preventing crimes
 responding to emergencies
 providing support services
 prevention and detection
 conducting the Investigation

40.  In addition police has to respond in following
format:
 Receive the crime committing call or
complainant crime committing report
 If found cognizable, lodging of FIR, entry of
its summary in daily report register
 Visit of crime scene, getting evidences, initial
interviews, making memos, dispatching
evidences for expert opinion etc
 Arrest of accused, interrogation

41.  Visit to Magistrate to get remand of accused
 Maintaining the daily report diary
 Assisting the prosecutor
 Submission of Challan
While he/she discharge these duties they usually
do not obtain the environmental protective
measures.

43.  Law and order is changing across the
Pakistan during the novel corona virus
pandemic, as police pull back on arrests for
small-time crimes and instead focus on
breaking up gatherings that pose health
risks, all the while coping with the perils of a
job that can’t be done with social distancing.

44.  All the federal and provincial departments
are striving including both the ministries
of Interior to tackle the situation of the
viral epidemic
 All the provincial Inspectors General of
Police have issued their policies to ensure
the safety measures and to handle the
epidemic efficiently
 District, Regional police offices and
Welfare departments of CPO are still in
touch to take immediate actions in form
of positive cases amongst police
personnel

45.  To perform proper responsibilities in this
pandemic era by the Police officers along
with complete care/PPEs to prevent their
selves from the COVID-19.
 Corona can affect the person who could
be come into contact i-e,:
 Shaking hands
 Close social/ physical contact
 Not using face masks and gloves

46.  Police responsibilities have become entire
different due to the pandemic as compare to
the normal calm situation.
 Stress and panic could be seen all over the
country even amongst police personnel due
to the spreading menace
 Mostly people avoid to come outside of
their homes until they have utmost emergent
situation
 People do prefer the isolation instead of
social gathering

47.  Ratio of cognizable crimes especially
target killings, street crimes, murders,
attempt to murders, kidnapping with or
without ransom and other serious nature or
hard handed crimes has become lower, may
be due to isolation by public and higher
patrolling/ static picket or snap checking by
the law enforcement agencies.
 There is no specific treatment till to-date
to treat the pandemic COVID-19, thus people
prefer to stay safe at their houses.

48.  Ratio of non-cognizable crimes especially
forgery, cheating, abuse has also become
lower due to non-socialization and factors
discussed earlier
 People do avoid to report to Police for
such cases which are petty and may not to be
investigated
 Another aspect for avoiding Police is the
behavior and respond of Police which usually
make them deserted.

49.  Ratio of gender based violence cases has
become higher but mostly not reported
because of traditional misbehavior and poor
respond of Police which make the survivors
desolated and more deprived.
 People feel fear to talk to Police or to
share about such GBV
 Improper training especially to tackle
these cases reflecting numerous loop holes
and more depravedness to vulnerable
elements

50. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
 Police officers should utilize the following
to solve the issues of societal elements.
 Utilization of social media like facebook,
whatsapp, tweeter, skype and instgram etc
 Utilization of media like TV channels and
Radio to spread awareness about corona and
alertness of Police to tackle criminal cases of
all types during the menaced period

51. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
 Concept of community policing is best to
prevent and to tackle the crimes what police
should do, they should collect all the cell phone
numbers of all the valuable persons/ informers
to get in touch with them telephonically
 Spread awareness amongst people about the
Police emergency response contact numbers
 In this way a better communication system
may be formed

52. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
 As shared earlier, by adopting safety
measures (PPEs etc) police officers should
perform their duties to assure the public that
they are there to solve the issues and to
provide timely justice for the public living in
their jurisdiction
 Positive attitude, encouraging respond,
timely justice these are expectations of public
y the police department

53. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
Rashan Distribution Duties:
 In addition to the said duties police is
performing some additional duties like:
 Distribution of Rashan/ food by
government/ welfare organization/ Non-
governmental organization and other
resources
 It is essential to keep the distance atleast 6
feet for people who want to receive the rashan
in a que, to control the public formula of firm
and friendly may be so helpful to adopt

54. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
Patrolling Duties:
 Negotiation with public will be made after taking
all precautionary measures, face mask, gloves, no
physical contact and safe distance
 For mobile patrolling, it is essential to minimize
the number of police personnel upto 4 persons 1
driver at front 3 in back, and out of the 3, one
personnel will be in standing position to watch
closely the situation outside
 For bike patrolling, it is essential to be 1 person
on a bike instead of 2. Double passengers on bike
should only be allowed in extreme compulsion.

55. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
Casualty evacuation of Coronavirus suspects:
 Negotiation with public will be made after
taking all precautionary measures, face mask,
gloves, no physical contact and safe distance,
 Strict precautionary measures safe distance
to send the coronavirus suspect for testing
and hospitalization
 Inform immediately superiors if any person
of police or any person who is suspected
patient of pandemic

56. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
Sub-Hospital (houses of Coronavirus patinents)
 Negotiation with public will be made after
taking all precautionary measures, face mask,
gloves, no physical contact and safe distance
 Do not enter in those houses, stay outside
and use Masjid/Mosque toilets etc
 Feel free to contact the superior in case of
any deviance during the discharge of duties

57. WHAT TO DO TO COP THE SITUATION:
Mob dispersal as first responder:
 as said earlier all the precautionary
measures will be adopted
 Mega phones and or mobile mega phone
may be used with a safe distance
 Use of force is usually not required, if
required water cannons and tear gas may be
utilized if no any negotiation option found
helpful

58. SHOULD NOT BE DONE:
 Following may impact a very negative
impression, thus must be avoided:
 Use of Illegal force
 Use of Torture
 Use of ill behavior and or misbehave
 Disrespect the citizens
 Social gatherings
 Corruption of any aspect

59. SHOULD NOT BE DONE:
 Physical punishments to violators
 Do not ever leave the designated duty
point without permission of competent
authority
 Do not shake hand, do not get closer to
any person either of own police department
even have worn mask or gloves
 Do not hesitate to share with high ups in
case of appearing sign symptoms like
corona to you or your colleague