The new DGP MA Ganapathy is for keeping the policemen belonging to the specialised units in the same departments they have been working in. According to him, this would help enhance their skill and bring more efficiency for the force.
Revolving them from department to department would just erode their specialized skill, resulting in the loss of efficiency for the department as a whole, he said.
He further said they must explore other means to better things in the department, adding that his watchword is efficiency and more efficiency without going for any stunt.
The stand taken by the State top cop runs contrary to the view held by many senior cops who say that having policemen bogged in the same department till they retire would make them vegetate and rob them of the spirit of initiatives and innovations.
The new DGP said rotating cops for the sake of the rotation would tell upon efficiency. It would neither enhance their efficiency nor would it help them retain the specialized skill they acquire while working in the same department for years on end. The final loser would be the police, he opines.
However, the majority view in the police is that policemen need to be shifted from department to department to help them take head-on the multiple challenges they are facing now with the pattern of crime undergoing sea-change with the advent of technology.
Cyber crimes are on the rise in the State, a phenomenon the police, in general, are finding it difficult to rise up to, given their lack of exposure to the realm. With the crime cases being on the spiral with the offenders resorting to the latest technology, the policemen need to have their skills honed in other wings of police department to effectively perform their policing duty in the departments they are working in, an observer said.
Notably, a few years ago, senior cops faced huge political pressure when they had started the process of promotion in intelligence department. Eager to avail extra allowances based on their salaries, the policemen started piling pressure on their seniors to obtain transfer in intelligence through the pliable politicians.
Another police officer on the condition of anonymity said that the norm of revolving policemen from one department to another as part of enhancing their skills is not being applied here.
The civil police can be deployed in vigilance or CB-CID departments, depending upon the vacancy there.
Armed police are normally deployed in traffic department. Armed or civil police may join State Disaster Response Force for three years, he opined. Policemen should also be deployed in STF and Cyber Crimes Police Station, he said.
Such policemen may re-join SDRF after they reach the age of 45. This would help them take on the multiple challenges squarely. Similarly, PAC jawans may join City Police Unit (CPU) which has been formed to enforce traffic regulations and act as swift response team to crack down crimes like chain- snatching, eve- teasing and other offences in the city concerned, the police officer said.
“But things here are such that a civil policeman joins a police station and retires from there. There is little likelihood of him being deputed in other departments like CB-CID or vigilance even if there are vacancies there. This trend should be reversed here to help the force adequate to the multi-pronged challenges they face in their intercourse with crime,” he said.