Lahore CCPO orders vigilance around crime hotspots

Violent crimes increased while police focused on combating land mafia in recent months

LAHORE:

An increase in incidents of crime and violence in the provincial capital has apparently pushed the top brass of Lahore police to focus on their primary role after spending recent months in combating land grabbing and gun display.

CCPO Ghulam Mahmood Dogar directed senior officers on Tuesday to improve patrolling and focus on the crime hotspots, including areas from Mahmood Booti to Shera Kot, along the Ravi river, Sundar Industrial Estate, Burki, Manawan and remote villages as well as suburbs to control crimes.

He also ordered continued combing and intelligence-based search and sweep operations around sensitive establishments, residential areas, hotels, hostels, bus terminals, railway stations and other important places to free the city of habitual criminals, proclaimed offenders and court absconders.

He said the action should be carried out along with a continued crackdown against land grabbers to retrieve the occupied property.

Since took charge as CCPO Lahore, Dogar had been focusing on a crackdown against the land mafia and gun culture.

 However, a large number of crimes, particularly violent robberies and murders, have been reported during the period.

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 The CCPO reviewed the overall performance of all units of Lahore police during a meeting and issued directions for improvement, according to a spokesperson.

The meeting held at Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines was attended by officers of all wings of Lahore police, including DIG Investigation Shariq Jamal, DIG Operations Sajid Kiani.

Issues like lack of access of people to police officers were also discussed. Dogar directed the officers to regularly hold 'open courts' in different areas of the city to listen to the problems of the citizens and take immediate action for redressing their grievances.

 He called for making the role of the district and divisional peace committees more effective by increasing the representation of all sections of the society.

The CCPO directed the officers concerned to intensify a crackdown against drug peddlers involved in selling crystal Ice around educational institutions.

 The city police chief expressed dissatisfaction over a slow pace of submission of charge sheets of cases under investigation by the SDPOs and investigation in-charges.