All police pickets throughout the city will be gradually removed, Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ahmed Raza Tahir said on Sunday. Tahir directed all policemen, including superintendents of police (SP), to come out in the field and leave their air-conditioned rooms to serve the masses. He said that police stations should be a place of relief for the masses, where every law-abiding citizen ought to feel a sense of protection and honour.
The CCPO said that rude behaviour or gross attitude towards visiting citizens in police stations would not be tolerated. Tahir directed officials to further streamline the surveillance system and ordered all divisional SPs to conduct a regular survey of their respective areas, along with improving the patrolling system. He said that special attention should be paid to arresting criminals and proclaimed offenders involved in heinous crimes such as terrorism, kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, murder and extortion. Tahir directed officers to keep a watchful eye on those policemen who extend patronage to the land mafia and indulge in other social crimes, for which close coordination and liaison with notables of the area ought to the maintained.