LAHORE: While removing three station house officers (SHOs) and two deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) on Monday from their positions over poor performance, the senior police command is likely to go for a major reshuffle in almost all ranks, including divisional superintendents of police (SPs) of Lahore.

The decision was taken following reports of a surge in crimes in Lahore in a high-level meeting chaired by Punjab Inspector General of Police retired Capt Arif Nawaz Khan on Monday.

The meeting was attended by the entire senior command of the Lahore police, including Capital City Police Officer BA Nasir, Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Ashfaq Ahmad Khan, senior superintendents of police (SSPs) and SPs concerned.

An official privy to information told Dawn that the senior command of Punjab and Lahore police joined heads following reports that crime had increased manifold in the provincial capital during the last few months.

Major reshuffle in all ranks likely

The officers discussed possible factors behind the crime surge, particularly in robbery, rape, motor vehicle theft and burglary cases in Lahore in 2019 as compared to the last year. The possible ways to bring down or control the crime rate also came under discussion and the participants of the meeting unanimously decided to make major reshuffles from SHO to the SP level in Lahore.

Active policing was another idea discussed to apprehend and round up criminals involved in street crime in Lahore, the official said. Some short- and long-term strategies would also be implemented to fight crime in the city.

As a short-term strategy, Lahore’s senior command later in the day suspended from service SHOs of Sundar, Islampura and Raiwind and removed DSPs of Iqbal Town and New Anarkali.

Earlier in the week, the police high-ups had suspended from service the Raiwind DSP and Mughalpura SHO on charges of corruption and poor performance.

“The police high command has also decided to change SPs of four divisions of Lahore for failing to control crime in their jurisdictions,” the official said.

Sadar Division SP Bilal Zafar is likely to be transferred and posted as Lahore security SP and City SP Syed Ghazanfar replace Mr Bilal. Cantonment Operations SP Safdar Raza Kazmi is likely to be transferred and posted as SP City division, while Civil Lines SP (Investigation) Capt Furqan Bilal will likely be transferred and posted as SP Cantt operations.

The operations SPs of Model Town, Iqbal Town and Civil divisions might continue to hold their assignments, the police official said, adding that a major reshuffle in DSP rank in Lahore was also on the cards. A list of SHOs also has been prepared for assessment for better replacement, he added.

During the meeting, the IGP directed the Lahore police officers to enhance patrolling at the main crime spots in the city in order to ensure presence of the police force on roads and streets. He also issued instructions for improvement in crime detection in Lahore in order to take the criminals involved in heinous crime to court.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2019