VP Naidu: Making police stations people-friendly will change things for good

On Saturday, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu expressed an outrage about the country's police forces ' anti-people approach and he said things will not improve unless this mindset is changed

"We have been talking for many years about making police stations people-friendly. Unfortunately, that is not happening. Unless the senior officers take the lead in changing the atmosphere in police stations, I am afraid that things might not improve," he said.

The Vice President was speaking at a national seminar on SMART Policing orgsed jointly by the Indian Police Foundation, the National Centre for Good Governance and the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).

Addressing the gathering, he suggested internal reforms within the police forces including improving the ambience in the police stations to make them complainant-friendly.

"Police stations are the first point of contact for people. The common man should feel confident that the police personnel were competent to redress his grievance. At present, you would agree, a complainant enters the police station with serious misgivings whether his or her report would be registered or what kind of treatment would the person get," he said.

He suggested the police force to focus on a swift and objective approach while dealing with cases rather than bothering about the increase in crime figures.

"Every complaint must be registered and inquired," he stressed.

The Vice President also expressed concern over the sporadic instances of sexual assaults and crimes against women and minor children and called for stepping up of security measures to ensure the safety of women.

"The police needs to be sensitised about the need to act firmly and ensure that the culprits are brought to book at the earliest," he said.

Stating that terrorism was the enemy of humty, Naidu said there should be no complacency on the safety and security of the country and called for measures to enhance the capabilities of the state police and Central Armed Forces to deal with emerging challenges effectively.

"Stable law and order ensured by motivated and committed police would provide the necessary foundations for sustained economic progress of the country," he said.

Referring to the daunting challenges posed by cyber age, the Vice President stressed the need to train police forces across the country to tackle cyber crimes. There was an enormous scope to tap IT potential in the fields of police governance, investigation, safety and security management as well as citizen-centric policing, he said.

Naidu suggested the police force to think of an innovative approach to deal with VIP security and in regulating traffic during the movement of VVIPS.

He said that addressing the shortage of manpower, improving the transport and communications facilities and services, and setting up of more forensic laboratories were needed in addition to the police reforms suggested by the Supreme Court.

( With inputs from ANI )