LAHORE: In order to combat so many complaints surfacing at the police station level, the Lahore police authorities are considering a proposal of public accountability of police to enhance `complainant contact with the executives`.

Under this proposal, a mechanism is being developed to empower and educate victims/complainants to utilise to the optimum level services available to hold the officials accountable atpolice stations.

As most complaints have been surfacing about lazy and late response of 15 police, the authorities are giving much priority to revamp this facility to ensure timely redress of public emergencies.

An official told Dawn that the city police authorities had launched many alternative schemes to address the issues of the public visiting Lahore`s 84 police stations.

`The establishment of front desks at police stations manned by educated and reputed staffers are meant to give a sympathetic hearing to the visitors, he said.

However, it`s a matter of concern that the beneßts of the schemes could not be trickled down to the public due to a lack of awareness about these projects, he said.

As the accountability of policemen is a fundamental issue for police executives, the department after deliberations has decided to launch `public accountability of police`. The department is providing email access to the victims/complainant s besides a new website to give them direct access to the senior command of Lahore.

`Police 15 is receiving more than 5,000 fake calls daily, the official said, adding that in the wake of this huge traffic of calls, the officials sometimes fail to respond to genuine complaints. To address this issue, the department has already launched text-based complaint management system 8330 as an alternate to the police 15.

`If a caller is unheard by police 15, he/she can contact the executives through 8330 for quick response to their complaints,` the official said.

The complainants can also use the same service (8330) for lodging complaints against the police station officials about delay in lodging of FIR, bribe, rude behaviour, quality of service and harassment.

The caller would get prompt reply to his complaint and solution within 24 hours, he said.

`The basic purpose of the new initiative is to empower the complainants/victims by all means,` the official said.

He claimed that the task was being given to a team of experts to create awareness among the public to utilise the city police`s initiatives.