"Assam Police will be best by 2026", CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Kamrup (Assam) [India], July 5 : Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state police will emerge as the best police force by 2026 and for that, efforts of the state government are being taken.

Talking to the media on Tuesday at Amingaon in Kamrup district, the Chief Minister said that the state government's effort is to shape the Assam police as a people-friendly force.

"There are around 60,000-70,000 police personnel, and home guards in Assam and the presence of 2-3 per cent black sheep is natural. Our effort is to shape the Assam police as a people-friendly force. It is not easy to make this, because the Assam police became a force dealing with insurgency from the time of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)," he said.

"When the force was busy in dealing with insurgency then its mentality has changed as it has alienated from the people," the Chief Minister added.

He further said that now the insurgency problem has been solved by almost 90 per cent and the police will have to work to stay among the people so that it can build friendly relations and fight against new-age crimes like cybercrime, digital crime, cheating etc.

"Therefore, we have given importance to strengthening forensics, DNA fingerprint and the mentality of the Assam police should be changed. For which, efforts of action, and removal of black sheep will be continued. By 2026 we will have the best police force," he said.

Earlier on June 27, the Assam government inked two memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad in the presence of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma at a programme held at Janata Bhawan in Guwahati with a view to forge collaboration in the field of forensic sciences, healthcare and diagnostics.

Speaking on occasion, Sarma said that, the State government's understanding of the CDFD will have a far-reaching impact on building a crime-free, secure and healthy society in the state.

"The State government in its bid to make the state crime-free, in recent times has initiated to bolster forensic science infrastructure," he said.

Referring to the Guwahati Campus of National Forensic Science University in North Guwahati for which the foundation stone was already laid by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Chief Minister said that the campus besides empowering the state in forensic science will also provide training and skill development to the Police, Judiciary and Forensic Scientists.

"As a part of the MoU on forensic sciences, CDFD will provide DNA profiling training for human identification purposes to the scientific and technical staff of the Directorate of Forensic Science, Assam. As part of the understanding, there will be training and sensitization programmes on areas including evidence collection, handling and transportation methods, chain of custody, quality control and quality assurance issues, etc.," he said.

"The arrangement will also serve as a demonstrator of the value of the technology for the criminal justice delivery system in the state," the Chief Minister added.