Director General of Police (DGP) Jacob Punnoose has said he was yet to come across any Intelligence Bureau report suggesting that the State was fast turning into a recruitment hub of terrorists.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a consultation on police reforms organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative here on Monday, Mr. Punnoose said the State police had prior information about the Dalit Human Rights Movement. Whether that organisation had any terrorist links was now being inquired into, he said. The DGP, however, said that nothing more could be revealed at this stage of the investigation.
Mr. Punnoose said the investigation was being held in right earnest into the explosion that rocked the Ernakulam district collectorate in July.
Earlier, inaugurating the convention and delivering a the talk on the topic ‘Towards better policing in Kerala’, Mr. Punnoose said 20 per cent of the policemen at the lowest level were leaving the force and taking up jobs as excise guards despite the salary offered being less by almost Rs. 2,000 in comparison to what they received in the department.
He noted that Kerala was the only State where an association for the police officials had been operating for the last 30 years. This, he felt, has helped to curb to a certain extent, instances of collective indiscipline.
The DGP observed that the police was not being able to intervene effectively in containing crimes like money laundering and called for a new law to remedy the situation.
He said political interference in policing was a national phenomenon and was not restricted to the State alone. Mr. Punnoose said contrary to public perception, the police department took maximum internal disciplinary action. DGP said that efforts were on to improve the functioning of women police stations. He said majority of the complaints involving women were dowry-related on which the police were in a position to take limited action only.
He reminded that the State police was the first to introduce community policing in the State. Mr. Punnoose said the law and order situation in the State was normal and compared to the 70’s incidents of murder, had come down drastically.
