‘Night shift SHOs’ posted in Lahore to curb heinous crime after dark

LAHORE: The Lahore police has appointed new ‘night shift’ station house officers (SHOs) at all the 84 police stations in the provincial capital after ‘crime analysis reports’ revealed that 40 per cent of the total heinous crimes were being committed between 10pm and 8am. The new appointments were made from the list of over 100 police officials, mostly in sub-inspector rank, who were shortlisted and then interviewed by a panel of senior police officers headed by Lahore Operations DIG Nasir Rizvi. The department took the step when the police experts and analysis reports suggested that most of the heinous crimes were occurring during the night time. The crime analysts were of the view that the criminals have been targeting people mostly after midnight when the regular SHOs and other staff at police stations would get tired after their daylong hectic duties. An official says heinous crimes, including house robberies, car and motorbike thefts and snatching are on the rise in the provincial capital for the last many months. He says the experts believe that the rate of the reported crimes was low in the daytime, specifically before noon and it rises after dark, particularly, after 8pm, when criminals become active, targeting the families visiting the markets for dinner or shopping. He says mobile phone, jewellery and purse snatching and theft has particularly been on the rise. The official says in the month of July high crime rate was reported and most of the victims in the city were targeted after dark. The reports also identified crime ‘hot spots’ in the city where most of the heinous crimes were committed. Before launching the new scheme, he said, the police high-ups prepared a list of ‘fresh blood’ in the force to consider them for appointment as ‘night shift’ SHOs. Apparently, these officials (SIs) have been posted as ‘night patrolling officers’ and would enjoy powers almost equal to the regular SHOs. The official says the initiative would help prepare a new lot of ‘experienced officers’ who may be considered for posting as regular SHOs in the city, in addition to bringing down the heinous crimes rate. He says under the new scheme, the police high-ups would allocate marks to assess the performance of these ‘night shift SHOs’ who have been given specific targets of busting crime networks of habitual criminals. These officials have strictly been directed to enhance patrolling in their respective areas during the night hours, he says, adding that the Dolphin Squad and Police Response Unit (PRU) have also been ordered to remain alert to respond to the 15 calls related to heinous crimes. Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2023
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