Technological Dramas and the Punjab Police: The Downfall of Front Desk

— Electronic dependence and utilization have been emerging as one of the driving forces towards departmental growth and development in this new era of globalization and modernization in Punjab police. The Front Desk (FD) project has a sign of change in Punjab police. It was changing the face of the police from the very first day it was started, but with the passage of time, it has changed its motive and began to change in the color of police. Hence, this paper highlights the issues and their solutions regarding the implementation and utilization of the FD project in the Punjab police department. It also highlights the working of Punjab police with and without FD and the importance of FD in the police department to delivering the grievance and of analysis the true nature of crimes. It discusses various aspects of police department myths and mistakes undertaken by the Punjab police officials and suggests various solutions for changing the face of the department.


INTRODUCTION
In Punjab police, Front Desk (FD) project was initially started with 10 police stations in Lahore in 2015. In 2016, authorities have given the name FD and extended it to more than 200 police stations in 13 districts, that department has established FD in every single police station across Punjab. FDs being run by the civilian staff (Font Desk, 2018) were rapidly changing the face and act as the bridge and shorten the distance between public and police but as time being it is changing its face and becoming useless to the public. The basic aim of FD was to provide a pleasant environment to the complainants at police stations so that they can file complaints without any fear and hesitation also organized mechanism to address grievances of the citizens. Paperless policing is the vision of the high-ups in the Punjab police department. Owing to human discretion, unnecessary file, and inordinate delays, the erstwhile manual system of complaint redress had lost its efficacy to resolve the issues of the public. The failure of manual complaint management was in turn undermining the cause of justice and public service (CMS&PSRMS, 2018). The post and pre working in police stations regarding complaint handling with and without FD are defined in Figures 1 and 2 respectively. As shown in figure 1, the purpose for which the FD system was created is losing its worth and originality (figure 2). The trust of the general public, as well as the motive of the change in the police department, is severally damaging and the police department is returning to its old form. The below figure shows the working of police stations before FD in police department is as follows

AIM
This study will investigate the working of police affairs with and without the FD project. We'll discuss the police department before and after the FD system and how this beneficial system is on the verge of destruction. Later on, we'll propose a deliverance & revolt model that will help to tackle the situation and will improve the working of the FD project.

UNDERSTANDING THE TECHNOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN POLICE
FD was a change in the police department. Police is not a department where people adopt new things easily and the same happen with this initiative. Commonly, police performance based on crime prevention, detection, security, and solving public grievances but where everything is monitoring or recording somewhere and keeping an eye electronically on the performance of police officers was a tough call. Mostly police work after something went wrong is based on two words, "Shafqat (Appendix) A " and Taki B " and somehow these words are the main cause of the bad performance of the police department. Police behavior is dependent on political, social & domestic problems and the mindset that the police department has right now and was before didn't accept the FD project because there's a number of factor that must be taken into account in order to manipulate data systematically.
Sparrow has long emphasized the importance of managing information systems properly: "If badly managed, they can frustrate managerial purposes, enshrine old values, focus attention on outdated and inappropriate performance measures, give power to the wrong people, cast in concrete old ways of doing business, create false or misleading public expectations, destroy partnerships and impose crippling restrictions to new styles of operation quite apart from their propensity to consume millions and wasted millions of tax" (Sparrow, 1991: 26) Examples of technical and implementation problems of information technology in policing include flaws in system design which resulted in data of poor quality and the failure to build and maintain support for technology within police departments (Hough, 1980).

Figure 4: Organizational Performance Factors
Organizational performance is defined as a measure of how an organization is managed well and how an organization can deliver value to its customers and stakeholders .

CULTURAL FACTORS
Technology is not simply an objective, physical given; people have to make sense of it and, in the process, 'develop particular assumptions, expectations, and knowledge of the technology, which then serve to shape subsequent actions toward it' (Sovacool & Sovacool, 2019).
The introduction of new technology is merely the beginning of a 'technological drama' (MANNING, 1992) of normalization, adjustment, reconstitution and reintegration.
The police subculture may contain organized subgroups that may have strongly influenced the character of the larger entity. They're people in the police who may be grouped on the basis of age, educational attainment, rank, sex, and length of service. Among these there may be a person of distinctive language, extroverts, married, introverts, single, values, beliefs, and variations in mental health and stereotypes; some are based on rumor hearsay and physical structure (Trinkner et al., 2019). Punjab police's district's Supervisory Officer's (SO) fact information and complaint resolution system is mainly based on lie.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORATICAL BACKGROUND
Hassle-free and paperless policing is the hall mark of the developed world countries like India (Ewart, 1935) and UAE are also using the latest gadgets and technologies to make their police public-friendly and efficient (Chattha et al., 2019). Gone are the days when police station clerks had to beg complaints about stationery, fuel, and food. Now, the front desks being run by civilian staff are rapidly changing the face of the police force because the station assistants are given all accessories -ranging from printers to Wi-Fi and android handsets to water dispensers. Above all, they work in air-conditioned rooms (Front Desks Changing Police Face, 2016).
Registering a First Investigation Report (FIR) obligates the police to investigate a complaint, but getting the police to accept an FIR from an average citizen generally requires the intervention of a senior police officer or influential person and the payment of a bribe (Applicants et al., 2013). So, to cater to a situation like this, the police need a centralized monitoring system that brings the idea of the FD.
Unlike advanced Western countries, stability in Pakistan is, therefore, not maintained through transparent redistribution of resources but the chain of patronage right from the parliamentarians down to the people. As  demonstrated in their article, police corruption, becomes an institutionalized and legitimized phenomenon.
IT has become increasingly integrated into modern police organizations, driven by its potential to improve the effectiveness of operations and generate cost savings. These included records management, dispatch, crime investigation, personnel records, information sharing, fleet management, automated booking, and resource allocation systems .
The taxonomy of electric police is as follows,  The district-wise total police stations and FD details are given above as approximately 716 police stations are in Punjab and the same number of FDs is being established in each police station of Punjab.
Background Steps on to reform Punjab police to curb crime effectively. Manifold steps are taken to reform the Punjab police department and improve its ability to combat crime with the help of information technology, digitalizing its manual functions that have become obsolete and useless (Front Desk in Punjab Police, 2018).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 What is FD in the Punjab police department?  How FD working?  How FD is beneficial for the public and police?  Why FD project is losing its worth and motive?  What problems do FD officials are facing?  How FD project could be as it was on the first day?
6. RESEARCH METHOD AND DATA COLLECTION 6.1 RESEARCH STRATEGY The research strategy adopted for the study is "Qualitative". This is a set of non-statistical inquiry techniques and processes used to gather data about something, may it be a social phenomenon or an organizational structure (McNabb, 2013).

RESEARCH DESIGN
An explanatory research design has been used for this study. This design is used in a qualitative study to explore any phenomenon and to develop a causal explanation of something i.e. cause of the consequence of interest (McNabb, 2013).

DATA COLLECTION
Different stakeholders had been identified for this study in order to get a comprehensive view of the issue regarding the downfall of FD and for this purpose in-depth interview, questionnaires, observations and focus group meetings have been conducted with the respondents with the help of the convenient Sampling strategy. Stakeholders and respondents belong to the following sections of the society:  Serving and retired police Officials  Serving and resigned FD Officials  Legislators(Parliamentarians) Members of the Provincial Legislature were interviewed, because in Pakistan Law and Order is a provincial subject  Print and Electronic Media Journalists  General Public and Applicants 1961 questionnaires (2 parts) were sent to above mentioned stakeholders around the Punjab, out of which 1508 questionnaires were received which makes 76.9% response rate. In addition, before sending the survey questionnaire for actual data collection a pilot study has been conducted with 23 Data Processing Officer's (DPO-IT) to confirm the reliability and validity of the instrument using Cronbach's alpha (Williams et al., 2012). Below figure shows that 68% FD officials are being working in police department is not satisfy with their jobs, which should be an alarming situation for police supervisory, public and as well as government.
Graph 3: FD Officials Response

IMPACT OF FD ON POLICE PERSONAL
With the introduction of the FD project in the police, police think they're being bound to something which is apart from the high-ups.

THE FD WORK: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The concept of FD has its genesis in the fact that the common man is hesitant to step into a police station. This system provides a "single point of access" or the "one window operation" to the citizens so that they could lodge a complaint or find out the status of their cases without any inconvenience.
The framework model shown below figure includes the eight (8) independent variables, which are departmental reforms, transfer posting policy, police myths, software bugs, the performance of FD officials and SO's, implementation of SOP, and independence, which predict the downfall of FD through moderating role of organizational support. to rumors hearsay, playing in the hands of conspiratorial lobbies, all in all mentality and, somehow, immaturity are the main factors in the downfallen of the FD project. A few dealing hands pressurize FD officials in different ways to enter hypothetical data. Ultimately, a question comes to mind that how it is possible for a person to get renewed his/her contract and can work on merit by not abiding the directions regarding data manipulation. The district they trying to fix its record-have to send their contract extension to high ups. In this study, we also have to look at the performance of the different end users of the FD project. The officials of the FD project known as DPO-IT/HNT/SSA/PSA also have a hierarchy in terms of scale and salary mentioned as the names from senior to junior. The main role in the FD project is of SSA and PSA; they've to enter all the data timely and accurately. Unfortunately, they've failed to perform their duties as they lost their interest in the job. Moreover, not interested in the writings of the citizen's applications, office times, behavior, room decorum, dress code, lack of honor-ship, lack of responsibility, zero feedback from FD applications and data entry quality are the main reasons for FD personals to FD project. That because of the insecurity of job, service structure, geographical issues, coordinate with the police station staff, lack of support from district's supervisory, favoritism, lobbying, salary, timing, non-interested behavior from high ups, conflict in SOP and most important departmental threats. Above all these things are down-falling the morale of FD staff. The FD supervisory should not be dependent on the district supervisory as they're being faced with many issues at the district level. This project is going on the road of dead-end, after some time police will see as this project will produce the garbage in terms of data.

NON ACCEPTANCE BEHAVIOUR FROM BELT FORCE
For the success of any new project, it has to be accepted by the peoples who are working in that department. FD is not an ideal project for belt force. The theme that FD has is against the interest of Muharrar & Station House Officer (SHO). Discrimination towards FD officials is also a big factor in this regard. Punjab police use discrimination when it comes to FD officials. We'll say this with an apology that Punjab police unwelcomed this innovative change in this department. Police personals said, "The day when FD came into the police department, it's destroyed the department". FD officials are "Light Creatures". Belt force thinks that like other initiatives in past taken by the department were closed, FD will also be closed. Some of the high ups think that "if we support them, one day they'll go far ahead and leave us behind". As per belt force, the FD project exploiting the rights of the belt force.

POLICE MYTHS
Public think, if we give application to these civil staff of police, our application might be through in the dustbin, belt force did the proceeding so we'll give our application to the Muharrar because nothing happened in police without a bribe. As per the police staff, "if citizen will give the application at FD then we'll not proceed but if you'll give application directly to us (Muharrar/SHO) then we'll proceed. Another thing is police think with their experience and per citizen's applications that 90% of applications based on a lie. It might be true for violent applications but not for property crime as we'll see this is in the below section.

INEFFECTIVENESS OF COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS)
As CMS is Police's primary/basic software; Police need to be more focused on it. The applicants who are not satisfied with Police Stations then resort to different channels like PMDU, CM Portal, 8787, etc. While focusing on CMS, they can minimize the bulk of applications at different forums. Police's job is not only to protect the citizens but also to hinder domestic violence to maintain peace among society. According to the official figures, the police force is failing to combat crime effectively (International Crisis Group, 2008) it also has failed to protect society from crime against property of one (1) district as shown in the below analysis of registered applications on FD and registered First Investigation Reports (FIRs). With the rising crime figures, nationwide, the numbers are not good as they appear . Graph 4: CMS Statistics 7.6 DID CRIME DROP OR DID WE DROP THE BALL?
As time on the run, crime is increasing day by day. When we saw the above analysis, it is also an eyeopener for government officials and high ups, we've seen that every year registered and not registered crime is increasing and the hidden, dark and non-reported crime is another issue. We know that every application is not based on truth, suppose, if we deduct 50% applications (frivolous, nominated, duplicated) of crime against property which is quite impossible then the remaining 50% FIRs should be registered but facts are quite the opposite. Applicants are not mad that they give property application without being robbed. It shows that CMS could not meet the expectations of the citizens. Police didn't register FIRs properly on crime against property. Due to a lack of financial resources for FD management, the administration is also being criticized for providing stationery and other technical facilities (Front Desk employees, 2016). Now, we can say that the FD is useless. FD personals are also not following SOP for CMS which makes it vulnerable.

FD SOFTWARE BUGS
As per the FD officials, bugs in the FD software's are another hurdle in the progress of this project. It might be a business for the development team, their attention to keep delaying the modification on the development side to secure their assignment and to stick with the department.

DEPARTMENTAL REFORMS AND AMMENDMENTS
Police need departmental reforms to save the FD project. Job insecurity is a key element among FD officials. Even after five years, the Punjab police have failed to form a service structure for FD employees owing to selfish concerns (Front Desk employees, 2016).
FD employees informed that they're serving in the police department for the last 5 years; however, the department has failed to regularize their services.
The police department should regularize the FD officials and made requisite amendments in police rule to keep alive this project. FD staff claims regarding the pay scale, service structure, and other facilities were made by the higher-ups during the appointment, but now despite the lapse of more than five years, due to the unavailability of service structure, they are still on a contract basis.  Vol.11, No.1, 2021 command. Even after five years, mostly police officials didn't know anything about the FDs SOP and chain of command. Tragically, high-ups and district heads don't bother to see FD's SOP. There is in dire need to implement the JD of FD supervisory in the district to animate the FD project.
FDs SOP should be clear, precise, and disseminate from time to time within the department. Monitoring should be on merit and on time to avoid the untoward situation regarding FD affairs.

TRANSFER/POSTING OF FD OFFICALS
In the police department transfer posting is an issue from the first day and it is the root of all troubles. Transfers posting of FD officials are not being made on merit. Apart from the FD's SOP, FD officials are being posted on different branches, resultantly; cause of the FD is being compromised, which leads to promoting favoritism.

MONITORING AND SCALING OF FD OFFICALS
The police department is based on fear like the criminal's department. Researchers have linked police officers' concerns with appearing racist a kind of stereotype threat to racial disparities in the use of force. Their study hypothesized that stereotype threat undermines officers' self-legitimacy or the confidence they have in their inherent authority, encouraging overreliance on coercive policing to maintain control (Trinkner et al., 2019). As per the proposed scales of the FD officials, DPO-IT/HNT/SSA/PSA will be as 16/14/9 and 7 respectively, which is not enough to do their job and to deal with the police officials. Their supervisory must have a gazetted scale and the SSA/PSA should have 14/12 scales in the district to be held accountable for the official affairs. FD supervisory should be working under the command of Regional Police Officer (RPO) after Central command. Through this, district supervisory will handle FD affairs in an appropriate manner when they have the authority with a separate chain of command.

CMS MONITORING
By keeping in mind the importance of the CMS in the Police Department and report generation for analysis of different crime heads/sections/categories, a reporting system is proposed. Police are warranted by the government to enforce the law by arresting criminals and detecting the nature of the crimes through CMS. Because keeping the peace is a primary need of society, the police are around us since civilization began. Police usually and can timely be viewed as heroes within our community due to the often dangerous situations they encounter in service to the public; CMS is one of them to help the police department to portray a better image in the society.
The Electronic Tag (E-Tag) system (Police Initiative, 2016), that police are using is not enough mature to produce reports more appropriately. Here, we're proposing a report generation system to generate E-tags at Front Desks in an appropriate view that can help police in proper report generation on a single click.
E-Tag must be generated against crime head wise, i.e. In Reporting of Crime, there should be only below heads,  Crime Against Property

Investigation Investigation Investigation
The community needs to be aware that they must give any kind of applications at FDs.

CONCLUSION
The purpose of this research is not to do propaganda or spread negative information about the Punjab police. Punjab police among the other disciplined forces are the most important department that is directly related to the public grievances to ensure peace among society. When the Punjab police department itself is accused of unprofessionalism, violation of rules and non-acceptance behavior toward the FD project then attention to the subject is required. The term "Downfallen of FD" itself seems unjust but it is evident and being happened and enduring in the police department to discuss and study the phenomenon being examined in this paper. This paper basically highlights different ways or forms in which allegedly police department goes beyond its initiative survival. The biggest role in ruining the FD project is played by high-ups, SO, and finally FD district supervisory. As high-ups failed to implement SOP and JD to empower and monitor FD mechanism, the SO bend the SOP and used FD project for their interests and FD district supervisory failed to perform their duties. Following this objective, different scenarios or justifications have been explored for legitimizing the use of excessive discrimination towards the FD project. As per this study, downfallen of the FD project is usually gained from Administrative Rulers, Departmental Lobbies and Institutionalization Weaknesses which get involved in some sort of institutional decision making and try to interfere official affairs and used them for their personal interests, later on, these lobbies bail them out in one way or the other. If these officials refuse to adhere to such commands then they know they will be either removed or transferred from the current posting. FD is the place where hypothetical and customized data is being entered into the system, without being securing FD supervisory from SO's, the system cannot succeed. To sum up this aspect, we conclude that "There is a threat to police of police", "Police, spoiling the police" and "There is a need of policing in police" which will not let the Punjab police department grow unless police will take prescribed measures.

FUTURE WORK
Crime is a widespread problem that affects millions of people around the world. In especially, undeveloped countries like Pakistan, implementation of FD could help to mitigate the crime and public grievance within the police departments. FD could be the backbone of this department.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
There is no conflict of interest while writing this research paper.

FUNDING
This research did not receive any funding from commercial, public or not-for-profit entities. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT History of all great works into a witness that no great work was ever done without either active or passive support of a person surrounding and one's close quarters, thus it not hard to conclude how active assistance from seniors could positively impact the execution of a project. I am highly thankful to our colleague Mr. Muhammad Akmal (PSA) and Muhammad Javeed (ASI) for their active guidance throughout the completion of the paper.
Last but not least, I would also want to extend my appreciation to those who could not be mentioned here but have well played their role to inspire me behind the certain.

A:
The word "Shafqat" means compassion, in domestic language is that to forgive someone after doing a mistake. In Punjab police, this is a commonly used word.

B:
The word "Taki" means forgiveness, in domestic language is to create way or solution for someone after doing a mistake. In Punjab police, this is also a common word used in this department.

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Sir/Madam, I hope this finds you the best in your health.
We're conducting an academic research as part of our Ph.D. Program. This is an academic research survey, which needs some time from your busy schedule. The survey is intended to understand the performance of the Front Desk in Punjab police of Pakistan. Any information that you provide will be kept confidential and used for research purpose only. In this regard, you are requested to kindly fill the survey form as attached herewith. This survey will take about 10 to 15 minutes of your precious time, which will be extremely valuable in fulfilling the requirement of Ph.D. Research. For your convenience, I have enclosed a self-addressed postage paid envelope for the return of the completed survey. If you have any questions about the survey or the research study, please give us a call or SMS at (+92-345-7483688) or email at shahidrao739@gmail.com Your prompt response to this research study will be highly appreciated.

RESPONDENT'S BACKGROUND
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