DGP meet: PM Modi wants police to be active in community programmes

New Delhi: Joining community campaigns like Pulse Polio drive, becoming active on social media and an all-woman band are some of the new initiatives that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested for the police forces in the country.

The ideas were floated and discussed by Modi with the top police brass of the country during the three-day Directors General of Police and Inspectors General conference held in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch in December last year.

According to an action blueprint prepared by these departments, a number of police and central armed police forces have begun work in this direction and close to a dozen committees have been formed in their respective organisations to implement the suggestions by the middle of this year.

The blueprint, accessed by PTI, states that police forces have been asked to work in the direction of "bridging the gap" between them and society by active participation in community programmes and special drives like Pulse Polio immunisation campaign and ensuring civic amenities in deprived areas.

Police personnel have been asked to undertake special programmes to find out and "push" children to go to school and honour the meritorious students in these institutions and colleges in their respective police 'thana' or jurisdiction limits.

It has been decided during the Kutch sessions that the families of the toppers and brilliant students should also be accorded public receptions in the campuses of these forces which will help build a more people-friendly image of the forces.

In order to honour the martyrs, the Prime Minister has suggested, that lecture sessions about their brave exploits should be conducted ever year on October 31, National Police Commemoration Day, in order to inspire the younger generation to join these forces and build a strong character.

Winners of elocution and debate contests will also be awarded with police mementos.

The Prime Minister, according to the blueprint, has also asked these forces to have an all-woman band which will prove to be a testimony of their commitment to women empowerment.

The forces and departments have also been asked to actively register their presence in social media like opening official Twitter and Facebook accounts in order to combat attempts by nefarious minds to create trouble and circulate rumours. 

Modi, who has taken a special initiative to propagate Yoga and worked to get declared July 21 as the International Yoga Day last year, has also desired to have "in-house" Yoga training capabilities in these forces.

The men in 'khaki' have also been asked to prepare an Android-based application for both public and personal use so that more and more people can be in touch with them.

It has also been advised, the blueprint said, that state police forces should prepare fresh records for enrolling 'Police Mitra' volunteers so that people with "vested interests" do not get into this public-public partnership initiative established in the country, mostly at the local police station level.

These volunteers are used by the police in conduct of social, public and community programmes after giving them basic training in conduct of such large-scale events.

In order to enhance the efficiency of police forces in their core work area of conducting criminal investigations and upkeep of law and order, the PM has suggested that police officers with 5-10 years of service experience should "train at least 100 sub-ordinates for 100 hours" on latest technologies and techniques in conducting probes and in the intelligent study of crime trends in general and specifically with a focus of their area.

Modi, after these discussions with the DGsP and IGPs last year, had also made it a point to send personal SMS-based messages to over 18 lakh police personnel on the occasion of Republic Day.