Police Training College, Sihala: Emblem of excellence, focusing on professionalism

Rawalpindi: The first Police Training School was established in the Phillaur Fort near Jalandhar (India) and the Punjab became the first state in the Sub Continent to establish a police training school. Most of the other training schools were set up after the report of the Police Commission, appointed in 1902 by Lord Curzon.

Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, commandant Police Training College (PTC), Sihala, enlightened this correspondent about the history and performance of this institution during his visit to the PTC, saying, after the publication of Police Commission Report by Lord Curzon in 1902-1903, the government decided provincial training schools, subsequently; Police College, Sardah was established in July 1912 at Midnapur Zamindary Estate. In the beginning the college imparted training to the police officers of Imperial Police Service (IPS) of the rank of ASP both of British and Indian origin and police personnel of the rank of sub-inspector and constable of Bengal and Assam.

After the end of British Colonial Rule in India in 1947, Sardah became the only Central Training Institution for the training of PSP (Police Service of Pakistan) officers of both wings of Pakistan. This college became Police Academy in 1964, but after 1971, make-shift arrangements were put in place for training of Probationary Officers.

The first temporary stop was the Civil Services Academy, Walton, Lahore, this was shifted to the historic Police Training College, Sihala and the first batch of CTP in 1973 was sent here for training in 1975 and directly appointed DIGs and SSPs from armed forces were also trained in Sihala. In 1978, National Police Academy was established at Soan Camp in Rawalpindi and finally National Police Academy was shifted at present premises in 2000.

Police Training School, Sargodha was established in 1936 served as Provincial Police Training of Punjab Province. Police Training School Sargodha took over the training responsibility, and provided training for almost 11 years (1947-58). Subsequently, on 16th September 1959 the Police Training School Sargodha was shifted to Sihala. Police College, Sihala was situated in Rawalpindi District, which is spread over the land of 371 acres. Presently PCS consists 380 acres with 4 campuses.

Police College Sihala is the premier training institution and has pride to train almost 102,408 police officials of national and international law enforcement agencies. In year 2022, Police College, Sihala trained 3379, in year 2023 trained 2019 and currently 903 officers are under study for training in different courses.

Police College, Sihala has an honour to train officers of different law enforcement agencies including NAB, FIA, ANF, Pakistan Customs, Pakistan Railways, Prison department, Senate of Pakistan, Punjab assembly and officers of Sindh, KP, Baluchistan, AJK and GB police. In addition to this performance, the Police Training College is proud to train foreign police officials from Zimbabwe, Palestine, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Maldives, Uganda and Afghanistan.

As for as the Administration of Police College, Sihala is concerned, the officer of the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) was served as principal of this Institution from 1959 to 1975. The institution was upgraded as college in 1975 with the improvement of its cranium to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police as Commandant of 121-year-old institute and in 2007, the post of commandant was upgraded as Additional Inspector General of Police but in 2011 the post of commandant is again relegated to DIG. So far 50 officers were served as Commandant of this Institution. Mr. Ashfaq Ahmed Khan is the 50th Commandant.

Known for its salubrious climate the college provides the best training environment to trainees coming from all over the country. Today it stands as the premier training institution of the country which caters to the training needs of not only Punjab but also of various other law enforcement agencies of Pakistan.

Considering the importance of effective training in the light of modern day policing challenges, the Police College in the year 2009 has taken a special initiative of improving and modernising the prevalent Police Training Programme which led to the launching of Continuous Professional Development Programme (CPDP). This programme was further revised in 2018. In 2022 according to the vision of IGP the training programmes have been revamped through skill oriented and practical training. The core values of training are Dignity, Discipline and Professionalism. These new initiatives envisage the development of essential professional skills and responsible ethical behaviour that engenders trust and fosters leadership. This Programme focuses on producing desired results by evolving and adapting the training in response to the changing times and needs. The introduction of fresh modules like skill set, leadership and decision making, human resource management, media management, handling of stake holders and collective bargaining agents, human rights, soft skills and information technology reflects some of the changes made in the training syllabus.

For this purpose, Police College, Sihala has been outsourced its faculty. The College now boasts the services of top-of-the-line subject specialists including judges, barristers, doctorate degree holders, professional medical officers, religious scholars, Anchors/journalists and senior police officers on its panel.

The Commandant of the Police Training College, Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, during the visit to the PTC, anticipates that for achieving the goal, the Police College, Sihala should become one of the leading training institution among the law enforcement training institutions of the world, adding, “We have taken vibrant initiatives keeping in view of up-to-the-minute improvement to change the policing according to the global standard and it requirements including: construction of the state of the art Crime Scene Area / Forensic Laboratory. For the training of Counter Terrorism & Introduction of I.Eds, we collaborated with Pakistan Army.

For the training of Rescue & Evacuation Operation, we collaborated with Rescue 1122. Modern Investigation Techniques are necessary for Police Officers, for this purpose we are thankful to National Forensic Science Agency and Punjab Forensic Science Agency for their cooperation. For improvement of Firing and driving skills, we have installed Firing and Driving Simulators.

We have also done infrastructure changes in this Institution including Auditorium Hall, Class Rooms, Mock Court Room, Mock Police Khidmat Center/Front Desk, Mess Halls, Hostels, cafeteria block, saddle club, Parade Grounds, Sports Arena etc. We are going to build a new Academic Block, Multi-Purpose Hall and Mock Crime Scene Village.

Police College Sihala is going to establish world-class firing ranges and infrastructure of Elite Training.” The Commandant believed that this institution would present soft but professional image of the policing that would help to rooting out the “Thana Culture” from the police structure by edifying police personnel about the contemporary requirements, professionalism and scientific means of policing.