Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said “smart” policing is needed to ensure safety and security of people, and called upon the masses and filmmakers to look at the police in a new light.
Addressing the valedictory session of the two-day internal security conference here on Sunday, he explained his concept of “Smart” police: “‘S’ stands for strict and sensitive, ‘M’ for mobile and modern, ‘A’ for alert and accountable, ‘R’ for responsive and reliable and ‘T’ for techno-savvy and trained. The police should be all this in a country like India, which is set to emerge one of the leading nations of the world.”
The conference was attended by police chiefs, heads of security and intelligence agencies from across the country. “Police force should instil these values and ideals to ensure best policing and improve image and work culture,” said Modi.
The prime minister also laid stress on the need for an efficient intelligence network, pointing out that with such a network in place, no country would need arms and ammunition to run the government.
“A good intelligence system is required for the nation’s defence because the potential lies more with the person carrying the weapons than in the weapon itself,” he added.
He said the police were mostly shown in poor light in films. “Very few films show the police in the right light. I would request filmmakers to focus on the sacrifices the police force makes,” he said.
He further said a “lot of good things” are happening in the country because of policemen, but there are hardly any positive stories. “If every police station has a website, they will be able to put up all the good deeds done in a week. This will help bring forth the good work done by them and win the trust of the people.”
Stating that about 33,000 policemen have lost their lives in the line of duty since independence, he said the government will take steps to make their sacrifices known to the public. “This is not a small number. Their sacrifice should not be in vain,” he added.
Modi also suggested setting up of a task force of senior police officials, which will work out a system and take measures to ensure that the policemen who lost their lives while on duty are properly honoured.
Modi stated that the lives of such policemen should be made part of the curriculum in police training academies across the nation.
“There should be an official book published by the government which will inform new generation policemen about these martyrs. There should be an e-book in every state on these martyrs in the local language as well as Hindi. This might seem like a small step but it will go a long way in inspiring people joining the police force,” he added. He also stressed on the need to have a system in place to look into police welfare.
The prime minister, who is currently on a four-day tour of the North-East, is reported to have interacted with the chief ministers and police chiefs of all the north-eastern states.
