LAHORE If someone is really very upset with the performance of Lahore police, he is no other than the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Obviously, during the last two years, the CM took several initiatives for the welfare of the policemen, increased their salaries manifold, got them trained from Pak Army and Rangers to improve their professional skills and announced special incentives for the cops but the police are still working on 'as is where is basis. What to say about the recovery of kidnapped persons in recent high-profile abductions in the City, where armed robberies are on the rise, dacoits are killings innocent people on resistance, and suspects are tortured to death by policemen at private cells. Shahbaz Taseer, the son of slain Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, and American development expert Dr Warren Weinstein were kidnapped by gunmen from Gulberg and Model Town areas on August 26 and 13 respectively. The police are waiting for a miracle to happen and the victims will reach safely to their houses instead of making any breakthrough in such high-profile cases. Last week, dacoits gunned down at least five people including a housewife on offering resistance here in different parts of the City. On August 27, dacoits gunned down the husband and brother of a woman in front of her as they offered resistance during armed robbery in Samanabad Area. The woman lost her mental balance after witnessing the murder of her husband and brother outside her parents house. On August 26, dacoits gunned down father of two, identified as Aslam Shafique, near his residence in Shadbagh police area. The man was coming back home after serving Sehri food to his brother who was sitting at Aitkaaf at a nearby Masjid when two motorcyclists intercepted him near to his house in the Shadbagh police area. The police have failed to nab any of the gangsters involved in such killings. Interestingly, when asked to comment on the sharp surge in killings during armed robberies a police officer suggested that extra-judicial killings and fake encounters are the only solution to close the chapter of desperate gangsters involved in killings of innocent people. On Eid Day, the visibly angry Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif visited the residence of one Muhammad Rafi, a goldsmith by profession, who died in police custody due to severe torture a few days ago. The Gulberg police took the 'robbery suspect into custody on Aug 23 but tortured him to death and later claimed that he had committed suicide in the police lock-up. The Chief Minister suspended the concerned DSP and his entire team after he found the cops guilty in the killing of the poor man. During his visit to the home of the torture victims family on the day of Eid, Shahbaz Sharif expressed his strongest displeasure over the police performance. A senior official who accompanied the CM quoted him as saying, I had doubled their [polices] salaries, thinking they will provide justice to the aggrieved. But from frequent public complaints, it seems that cops themselves are involved in committing of crime. Unfortunately, the police command in the City is applying traditional methods to control rising incidents of armed robberies at a time when high-profile abductions, dacoities-cum-killings have exposed the police planning, crime rate is multiplying and corruption is flourishing. It seemed that the top cops are not interested to take systematic and concrete measures to eradicate corruption from the department. This is a fact that nobody can deny that the Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif, otherwise recognized as a good administrator in the province, has completely failed to bring even a minor positive change in the traditional Than Culture. It is important to mention here that the top cops serving in the City on key posts including the CCPO Lahore Ahmed Raza Tahir are Chief Ministers own choice. The CM transferred, suspended and sacked several cops on the charges corruption, misuse of power and negligence in the past though most of them are back on their lucrative posts once again. Instead of relying on human intelligence, the top cops sitting inside fortified buildings in air-conditioned offices are issuing traditional instructions to their subordinates like setting up pickets, carrying out snap checking, and search operations. According to a senior government official, the Chief Minister is closely monitoring the performance of the top cops, appointed on key slots after he himself had interviewed them. What will be the CMs next step if they failed to improve the functioning of the police department?, another reshuffle or one more face-saving exercise.