Jalad K. Tripathy, a 1985-batch IPS officer, will take charge as the new Director-General of Police/Head of Police Force, replacing T.K. Rajendran, who retires from service this month-end.
A native of Odisha, Mr. Tripathy has served the State police in various capacities across Tamil Nadu over three decades. During his tenure as Commissioner of Police, Tiruchi, he brought laurels to the force by introducing innovative schemes to prevent crimes that bridged the gap between the police and the public.
The initiatives — ‘Beat Officers’ System,’ ‘Slum Adoption Programme’ and ‘Complaint Box System’ — got him the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, introduced in 2005. He also received the prestigious ‘International Community Policing Award’ instituted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Washington, and the gold medal for ‘Innovation in Governance,’ conferred by the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM), Glasgow.
As Police Commissioner, Chennai, Mr. Tripathy and his team detected two sensational bank robberies at gun-point that rocked the city. Five members of a North Indian gang involved in the robberies were tracked down and shot dead in an encounter at Velachery in the city in February 2012.
While serving as DGP of Prisons, he roped in private participation to provide training in various income-generating skills to inmates of central prisons across Tamil Nadu, which kept the State on top of others in the country when it came to revenue generated through the prison industry. On the prison security front, he initiated the process of establishing solar power for uninterrupted power supply with the support of IIT-M and also proposed installation of German-made mobile phone jammers.
J.K. Tripathy, seen here receiving an award from Manmohan Singh for 'Excellence in Public Administration' in 2008 | File
Mr. Tripathy, presently the DGP/Chairman, Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, Chennai, has served as Superintendent of Police in nine districts, including caste-sensitive districts of southern Tamil Nadu. He is a product of JNU, New Delhi, and also a recipient of ‘Police Medal for Distinguished Service,’ conferred by the President.
(With inputs from R. Sivaraman)
