Strengthening Criminal Investigations

Project description

Title: Support for capacity development in the criminal investigative services in Pakistan II (CIS II)
Commissioned by: German Federal Foreign Office (AA)
Country: Pakistan
Lead executing agency: Pakistan National Police Bureau
Overall term: 2017 to 2019

Context

Pakistani criminal justice system institutions are not able to cope with the challenges they face. Police, prosecution, judiciary, and prisons lack adequate modern education, necessary technology and a rule of law-oriented conception of criminal investigation. These phenomena have led to a lack of trust on the part of the citizens in the functioning of the system.

The system also suffers from a lack of capacity on the part of individual institutions and involved actors, especially with regard to coordinating their efforts. Crime rates are high, yet only a small proportion of cases result in convictions. The system and its institutions i.e. the police, the public prosecutor’s office and the judiciary are largely inefficient, outdated, subject to political influence, and fragmented. Despite these shortcomings, they are under considerable pressure to produce results.

Objective

Strengthening the institutions of criminal justice system in Punjab and Sindh (at the provincial and federal level) to fulfil their responsibilities. This means enhancing their performance with respect to complying with the law and cooperating with each other.

Approach

The emphasis in the Support for Capacity Development in the Criminal Investigative Services in Pakistan II Programme (CIS II) is on strengthening institutions at the provincial level as that is where the majority of citizens are dispensed justice. The five fields of work are:

  • Improving education and training to strengthen and increase investigative capacities in criminal investigations;
  • Practical use of professional methods of investigation, including the use of forensic knowledge and skills in the process of criminal investigation;
  • Support for the creation of mechanisms to ensure an appropriate response by the criminal justice system towards vulnerable groups, especially juveniles and women;
  • A coordinated and government-led approach (i.e. roadmap) for criminal justice reform in Sindh (co-financed by FCDO);
  • Improvement of the organisational performance of the Sindh Forensic Science Lab (co-financed by FCDO).

Results

CIS II has helped to strengthen the criminal justice system institutions’ capacities. The programme

  • Established two schools of investigation (SoI) in police training colleges in Punjab and Sindh at Sihala and Saeedabad respectively. The SoI are premier institutes to educate and train police investigators in criminal investigations.
  • Established a state-of-the-art mock crime scene training facility at the National Forensic Science Agency (NFSA).
  • Established eleven women and youth desks in selected districts of Sindh in collaboration with the Sindh police to enable them to better respond to the needs of these groups.
  • Developed courses and conducted trainings on death investigations, interview and interrogation, digital forensics and pedagogy and didactical skills. In the courses organised, the project trained 469 officials, out of which 445 were police officers (men: 338; women: 63) and 24 prosecutors.
  • Supported police and prosecution in developing manuals on criminal investigation and case proceedings.
  • Developed a series of short videos outlining the forensic capabilities of the Sindh Police to educate prosecutors and judges. These videos along with training materials have been adopted by the Sindh Judicial Academy and are being used to train prosecutors and lower court judges as part of the Sindh Judicial Academy’s syllabus.
  • Collated standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the institutes working with and on juvenile cases; enabling them to perform their responsibilities efficiently and effectively.
  • Organised an interprovincial exchange on the rule of law in Sindh to bring all stakeholders of the criminal justice system together to learn from each other’s experiences on the development of rule of law roadmaps. 
  • Developed the rule of law roadmap for Sindh that is now approved by the steering committee chaired by the Sindh Home Secretary. The roadmap is a planning document for Sindh’s criminal justice system institutions.

Additional information