Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Be people-friendly, CM tells police

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM June 23. The Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, stressed the need for a more responsive and people-friendly police at a high-level police conference at the Government Secretariat here on Sunday.

According to sources, Mr. Antony said that if the police were more responsive at the Station House level, law and order situations like that which occurred recently at Maradu in Kozhikode could have been nipped in the bud.

The lack of a responsive police force often led to law and order situations going out of hand, particularly in communally sensitive pockets.

Mr. Antony asked the police force to be sympathetic to the grievances of the common man. The Chief Minister said he often received complaints from the public of police brutality or inaction. There were also reports of crimes perpetrated against women and children, activities of the liquor mafia and communal elements activity.

He said the police should actively investigate all complaints from the public. The common man should be viewed with sympathy.

Men of public standing, politicians and representatives of local bodies, who bring issues to the attention of the police, should be given proper hearing. Public men should be accorded full courtesy at police stations. However, police action should be in accordance with the law of the land and without fear or favour.

The Chief Minister reminded police officials that Kerala was perhaps the only State in the country where the police could function freely and without any political interference.

The Government would like to continue the same policy in the future also.

For this, the Police Department should cooperate with the Government by being a more professional and people-friendly force.

The Government policy of giving full independence to the Police Department, even in transfers and postings, has come in for severe criticism from several quarters. Hence, the department should not misuse this freedom or construe it as a lack of political will, he said.

Mr. Antony said public opinion would be the yardstick for measuring the performance of the police.

He said he would like to hear from the people themselves that the functioning of the police had improved.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the Government was investing heavily in the Police Department.

The facilities in police camps and stations were being upgraded as part of a drive to improve the living and working conditions of police personnel. The Government has earmarked Rs. 80 crores for police force modernisation. The problem of mobility has been addressed by providing the department with a new batch of vehicles.

Mr. Antony said he would like all police stations to be on full alert and open to the public round the clock. The welfare of policemen was high on the priority list of the Government. However, the Government had adopted a policy of zero tolerance to police corruption. Mr. Antony said that traffic enforcement should be accorded high priority by the police.

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