Director-General and Inspector-General of Police Om Prakash has said that on some occasions the police would have to act tough to maintain law and order or to prevent any untoward incident, but many a time only one side of the story is highlighted.
Speaking at a property return parade organised by Hubballi Dharwad Police Commissionerate at the Kannada Bhavan here on Thursday, Mr. Om Prakash urged police personnel to work hard to change the opinion of the department among the people. “The Police Department is being projected in a negative way. It needs to be changed,” he said.
Referring to instances of police acting tough, Mr. Om Prakash said that on most such occasions, people hardly got complete information about the incident and the circumstances which forced the police to act tough.
He said: “Police personnel are not outsiders. They are also human beings and part of society. Society, however, thinks differently about the person wearing khaki and there is a need for changing society’s perspective of the police.”
Listing out the good works done by the police, he said that when the police solved a chain-snatching case, they would have definitely prevented dozen similar offences. However, the prevention aspect often remained neglected, he regretted. Mr. Om Prakash and Inspector-General of Police, Northern Range, Ramchandra Rao subsequently handed over recovered ornaments worth Rs. 20 lakh to the respective owners.
Police Commissioner Pandurang Rane, Deputy Commissioners of Police Jinendra Khanagavi and Mallikarjun Baladandi and others were present.
26 cases solvedWith the arrest of a chain-snatching gang, the Hubballi-Dharwad Police solved 26 cases in April. Apart from the chain-snatchers, the police arrested two jewellers who had purchased stolen gold ornaments and had recovered 750 grams of gold ornaments from them.
Passing out paradeEarlier, addressing a passing out parade of 274 civil police constables at the Police Training School in Dharwad, Mr. Om Prakash said that by December-end, 18,000 out of the total 25,000 vacant posts of police personnel in the State would be filled.
He said that in the wake of increasing cases of suicide among police personnel, the department had sought permission from the government to appoint 100 senior counsellors. “We have written to the government seeking 20 per cent wage revision for the police,” he said.
