A report based on monitoring of 171 police stations in 98 districts across Pakistan during April-June 2012
 ISLAMABAD, September 6: Monitoring during the April-June 2012 quarter showed 20 police stations not housed in proper buildings although alternatives were available, says a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report.
The report released Thursday said FAFEN monitors visited 171 police stations in 98 districts. They found up to 70 of them operating out of dilapidated buildings. Of these, 27 were in Punjab, 19 in Sindh and seven in Balochistan.
 Fifty three police stations had unhygienic lockups. However, 159 had lavatories for staff and inmates; 167 had electricity; 159 had fans and 157 had telephones/wireless.
As many as 169 police stations had vehicles but 11 did not have fuel to run them. On the other hand 42 were short of stationery and 43 did not have clean drinking water, the report said.
The occupancy rate for male and female staff was satisfactory. For men, all the sanctioned posts at the police station monitored in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) were filled. Balochistan (91%), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (88%), Sindh (82%) and Punjab (75%) followed. Sindh (93%) had the highest occupancy rate for female staff, while this was 83% each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and 63% in Balochistan.
As for enactment of access to information policy, copies of challans to courts were not accessible to public at 65 police stations. Information relating to FIRs was comparatively better – accessible at 102 police stations.
Relevant data showed 84 police stations did not receive any request seeking information, indicating a possible lack of awareness about the policy. Moreover, 35 Station House Officers (SHOs) had no idea such a policy exists although it was adopted by Punjab in 2006 and Sindh the following year.
The report said 68 police stations did not have separate registers to record requests seeking information while 64 had no Information Access Officers; 26 were without the draft of Access to Information Policy.
Twenty two SHOs showed dissatisfaction when asked about government’s support. The reasons cited included lack of staff, insufficient logistical support (vehicles/mobile vans and fuel etc), shortage of stationery and scant funding.
 The reporting quarter saw 111 visits by government officials and elected representatives to the monitored police stations. However, 60 were completely ignored.
 The District Police Officers (DPOs) made the most visits (67), followed by members’ national and provincial assemblies (four visits each). The government/elected representatives including Regional Police Officers (RPO), a federal minister and leading area notables made 36 visits.
