In the context of the complex social and economic changes taking place now, there is a need for private security firms, regulated by the relevant laws, to keep citizens safe, said Gopal B. Hosur, Inspector-General of Police (Western Range), here on Saturday.
He was speaking at a seminar on “Law relating to private security and investigation”, which was jointly organised by the Mangalore Bar Association and the Department of Security and Detective Science, MIFT College, at SDM Law College here. Mr. Hosur said that the landscape of cities had changed over time and so had the problems that confronted the police.
When he took charge of his present posting over a year ago, the police force was confronted with four major problems, namely communalism, organised crime, naxalism, and terrorism. He thanked ordinary citizens, the “important stakeholders” in safety and security, for helping the police do their job. With the help of citizens, the police were able to prevent crimes, which would have led to a lot of communal violence and clamping of curfews.
Principal District and Sessions Judge H.R. Deshpande, who inaugurated the seminar, said that society had changed in several ways and posed a challenge to the police in maintaining law and order. While acknowledging that private security firms had helped in providing security to buildings and the like, concern was growing about the manner in which these agencies functioned.
