21 May 2024, Islamabad – In every society’s criminal justice system, police investigators and public prosecutors serve as essential pillars. They collaborate to gather evidence, file First Information Reports (FIRs), and ensure legal diligence in case of acceptance or rejection. Consistent communication and collaboration between these two key pillars — police and prosecution — is considered a core principle under globally accepted rules of business of the Criminal Justice System in an effort to make the best decisions about crimes and defendants.
In Quetta, on May 21, the UNODC, with funding from the U.S. Embassy Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), organized the fourth ‘Consultative Seminar on Improving the Coordination and Cooperation between Investigation Officers of Police and Prosecutors of Balochistan’. Aimed at evaluating governmental capacities across policy, administrative, and operational levels, the seminar emphasized enhancing police-prosecution collaboration.
An important focus was to empower prosecutors in actively aiding investigations for high-quality case handling. Despite laws mandating the prosecution’s receipt of all FIRs, timely identification of complex cases often falters, undermining close investigator-prosecutor cooperation. Ensuring timely legal guidance to investigators becomes crucial for evidence admissibility and successful convictions.A cross-section of police, law enforcement, and district public prosecution departments were represented at the seminar, including mid-level regional police representatives and investigation officers from Balochistan Police and District Public Prosecutors from Balochistan Prosecution.
The consultative seminar’s outcome sought to build consensus developed in the previous workshop on Investigators Prosecutors Cooperation, as challenges were highlighted to mitigate difficulties during investigations and criminal trials. Moreover, the seminar provided an opportunity for participants to come together again in order to continue building a common platform to share lessons learned and review the coordination framework for Police and Prosecutors in criminal cases, charting the way forward.
This marked a significant milestone in the ongoing consultative process, striving to formalize Standard Operating Procedures and institutional mechanisms for effective police-prosecution cooperation at the district level. Ultimately, this endeavor seeks to establish a transparent and accountable justice delivery system, serving all citizens and communities in Balochistan.
The ‘Consultative Seminar on Improving the Coordination and Cooperation between Investigation Officers of Police and Prosecutors of Balochistan’ was funded by the U.S. Embassy Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) as part of Pakistan’s Terrorism Prevention Programme (PTP2) with reference to Sindh and Balochistan.
