Instilling a Sense of Confidence Among Law Abiders and Fear of Law Among Mischief Mongers to be the Fundamentals of A&N Police: Dependra Pathak

Port Blair, Jan 20: The Govt. of India has recently sanctioned 68 technical posts to strengthen the A&N Police. There are three important Units of A&N Police, which includes Traffic, Police Motor Transport and Security. These three units will be strengthened with the filling of these posts. This will have a long term impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of A&N Police on ground, said Dependra Pathak, IPS, Director General of Police, A&N Islands at the annual Press Conference organized at the Police Headquarters on Saturday afternoon.

On a question regarding installation of CCTV Cameras in important traffic junctions, the DGP explained that apart from CCTV Cameras there will be something called ‘Safe City and Intelligent Traffic Management System’ (SCITMS), which will be adding to the Smart City initiative of the Govt. of India. It will be a comprehensive Traffic as well as Safety Improvement Initiative of the A&N Police. Apart from higher resolution CCTV cameras, there will be variable message signage at important places. There will also be IP based Public Address System. The IP will be backed by an intra communication backbone of fiber and will be used for Public Address System. There will also be a Smart Traffic Control Room where all the feeds of these cameras, feeds of variable message signs and the Public Address System will be linked.

The DGP further explained that there will also be adaptive Traffic Signals, which will depend on the volume of the traffic and the requirement. This will be linked with the 24x7 Control Room. All this will help the movement of the traffic seamless, he said.

Though the modern techniques of traffic management will be in place, the traditional way of traffic management will continue and prosecutions will take place simultaneously. The new Motor Vehicle Act is on its anvil, said the DGP. Once this Act comes up, the quantum of fine is going to be high and similarly the traffic violation punishments. The intention is to have a better and smart facilitation with transparency. As a concept it has been accepted and we are working on it, with the Smart City initiative already on, Pathak said.

Pathak further explained that the A&N Police is expecting new vessels to join the Police Marine Force, which will be a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). This will facilitate the new vibrant Real Time Coordination with other Coastal Security Agencies like the Coast Guard.

Apart from this, the A&N Police is also focusing keenly on modernization. The CCTNS scheme is already in place and the performance of A&N Police has been good under it. In the national comparison, we are 90% and above, explained the DGP. This will further get streamlined and improved once the Optical Fiber connectivity is established. The other related public service delivery facility of the CCTNS i.e. the Citizens Portal will also be improved although we already have four services in place out of the nine, he said.

The other initiatives are to focus on Speed, Certainty and Transparency of the A&N Police. Focus will also be on Community Policing, which is to take the community along in improving the social law orderliness. For this we have ‘Jan Sampark’ in which all the Police Stations will have wide ‘Jan Sampark’ meetings. There will also be meetings with the fishermen communities. On this the DGP pointed that the kind of information Police has been receiving from the Fishers and the local community has been marvelous in the recent past, to the extent that the information regarding any foreign poacher intruding into the islands was never missed. After receipt of the information, police had chased the poachers for hours inside difficult terrains and ensured that any and all of them were nabbed. The DGP concluded by stating that the community policing has been so far fruitful.

On Anti-Terror Preparedness the DGP said that A&N Police has already started it. Parakram is one example. Special trainings have been provided to the already trained IRBn staff, with the help of National Security Guards (NSG). As and when more improvements are required, the NSG will be training them further. The DGP assured that Andamans will be no less than any other state in terms of Anti-Terror Preparedness.

For improved Public Service Delivery, schemes like new ‘Tourist Police Eco System’, has already been launched. Kiosks have come up at ten places and more are on the pipeline. For better visibility and quick response, a group of Satark motorcycles have been added. The Satark team will also be placed in Nicobar and North & Middle Andaman Districts soon. After assessing its improved public service delivery, we will further improve its number depending on the requirements, Pathak expressed.

In the field of Cyber Crimes, the preparedness of A&N Police in terms of methodology, registration, complaint handling and investigation will be the focus this year. For this within the Central Crime Station (CCS), a focused Cyber Crime Unit will be setup with SOPs. All the Police Stations in A&N Islands will also be equipped to handle such crimes.

A ‘Crime Against Women Cell’ will also be coming up in the CCS apart from all other Police Stations in the islands. Our effort will be to make these special crimes, which does affect particularly when lot of business and tourism activities are expected in the islands, he said. Apart from the above, the A&N Police has already prepared itself for facilities like eVisa.

The fundamental of A&N Police will be to instill a sense of confidence among the law abiding citizens and fear of law among the mischief mongers. This will remain the guiding principle of the A&N Police, Dependra Pathak said concluding his address to the media. 

At the outset, Shri Deepak Yadav, IPS, Superintendent of Police (CID), through power point presentation detailed the activities, achievements and future plans of the A&N Police for an affective policing in the islands.