New Challenges for Policing

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the ball rolling and identified the new challenges for policing in India. Prime Minister was speaking at the valedictory session of the 59th All-India Conference of Director Generals of Police/Inspector Generals of Police (DGPs/IGPs) at Bhubaneswar. He expressed concern over the rising threats due to digital threats, cyber-crimes and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He underlined the disruptive potential of these technologies to undermine the social and family relations. In order to counter these threats the Prime Minister urged the police leadership all over the nation to transform these challenges into opportunities by leveraging India’s dual power that is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the “Aspirational India”. He appreciated the initiatives of urban policing and proposed that these initiatives be implemented across hundred cities in India. He also suggested organising the national Police Hackathon keeping in view the success rate of such initiatives to solve the challenging problems in the new policing. The Prime Minister highlighted the issues that emerged during the extensive discussions among the top brass of the police in the conference. These issues concern the internal and external security and have a direct bearing on the overall security challenges in the nation. The Prime Minister underlined the importance of technology in the new policing and said there is a need to reduce the workload of the constables with the help of this technology. In his opinion this can be done by transforming the police station into a central hub for the resource allocation. He also asked the police leadership of the nation to expand the focus towards the port security and underlined the need for a future action plan in this area. To acknowledge the role played by the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, in terms of his matchless contributions towards the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Prime Minister urged the entire security establishment from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to the Police Station level to organise celebrations to pay rich tributes to this great son of India on his 150th birth anniversary next year. His message to the top police brass of the nation was to enhance the image, professionalism and capabilities of the police. He stressed the need to modernise the police force in India so that it is aligned with the vision of “Viksit Bharat”(Developed India).It is pertinent to mention that in this conference discussions were held on varying issues that concern the overall national security. It included issues like counter-terrorism, left-wing extremism, cyber-crime, economic security, immigration, coastal security and narcotics trafficking. The conference also focussed on the threats emerging from the borders along with Myanmar and Bangladesh. Besides this light was also shed on the newly enacted criminal laws and the best practices in policing. Jammu and Kashmir Police must implement the outcomes that have emerged from conference in terms of overall national security and include these issues in its training courses for the officers at the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Academy (SKPA) so that officers at various levels are benefitted from the policy imperatives identified for the national security in this conference. SKPA has been organising training courses on the wide range of issues that concern overall policing. It has been using the services of the experts from various fields to sensitise the officers of the J and K Police.There are many experts who have been contributing to enlighten officers for many decades on the national security and other leadership issues besides the police management. Time has come to use the services of these experts in a permanent manner so that the courses are made thoroughly professional. It can be achieved only when there is an establishment of a J and K Police University. So that these experts who have contributed for many decades are able to enrich the J&K and Police with their vision and research under a proper framework.