Dy. CM Y Patton urges for reforms in Nagaland Police

Kohima: Nagaland Police first in the country to administer Anti-Narcotic pledge.

BY | Friday, 24 March, 2023
Dy. CM Y Patton, DGP Rupin Sharma and others during the meet at PHQ in Kohima on 24 March.

Deputy Chief Minister and in-charge of Home and Border Affairs, Y Patton on Friday stated that there is an urgent need to improve the efficiency of Nagaland Police, which can be done by reorganising and restructuring the Police force so that better and optimal utilisation of man-power and resources can be undertaken.

Attending the Nagaland Police senior officers and Unit Commanders meet-cum-Crime Conference at Police Headquarters in Kohima, he highlighted that Nagaland Police has grown from 1000 people in the 1980s to about 26,000 in 2023.

Patton also pointed out that there are almost 3000 personnel of Nagaland Police attached either as bodyguards or for non-police duties and called for urgency to minimise such deployments and attachments so that more manpower is available for policing and law and order works.

He further directed the DGP and PHQ to remove all such attached bodyguards within 2 months.

The deputy chief minister also asserted that the state is likely to witness the proposed elections to the Urban Local bodies, G-20 summit and a possible solution to the Naga Political issue among other things. In this connection, he called upon the Nagaland Police to be prepared for dealing with any situation which may develop during or after the proposed events.

Nagaland Police to shoulder additional responsibilities

Mentioning that after the unfortunate incident at Oting in Mon district, the committee set up by MHA to review the AFSPA had proposed lifting of AFSPA in 15 Police Station jurisdictions of Nagaland, he said that the primary role of maintaining law and order and tackling insurgents has now fallen on the shoulders of the Nagaland Police.

“As things continue to unfold and improve, with decreased factional violence, more Police Station areas can be expected to be removed from the application of AFSPA and Disturbed areas. This will place additional burden and responsibility on Nagaland Police. On the other hand, the removal of AFSPA would mean curtailment of resources and fund allocation to Nagaland Police under the SRE schemes of the Government of India. Against this backdrop, the Nagaland Police may have to shoulder additional responsibilities, with slightly diminished resources,” added Patton.

Dy. CM, DGP and other Police personnel at PHQ, Kohima on 24 March.

He also pointed out that the Police force has been undertaking all efforts tirelessly and there is a feeling that IRB jawans are probably overused, overworked and fatigued. To this, he said there is an urgent need to devise a mechanism to reduce work-related stress and exhaustion of the IRB personnel, for which the DGP and PHQ should devise a policy on the matter.

Patton maintained that police personnels are the eyes, ears of the department and the guardian of the citizens in terms of safety and security and that people have high expectations of them for safety and to live in a peaceful atmosphere.

However, he said it has been observed that many police personnel are noticed to be under the influence of alcohol or drug abuse which belittles or damages the image of the department as a whole in the eyes of the citizens.

He called upon the department to sternly check and take necessary punitive action if any misconduct or indiscipline behaviour of the personnel is reported.

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Stating that combating the drug trafficking menace also requires investment in investigation, investigation techniques, FSL facilities and with the spurt in registration of cases pertaining to drug trafficking, he said ‘none of the FSLs in the Northeast are willing to accept our samples for examination which leads to delays and also requires additional funds as samples have to be sent to Gujarat for testing’.

“Every sample requires Rs. 5000/- for examination besides TA/DA for officers who transport the sample. Under these circumstances we need to consider expansion of our own FSL,” said Patton.

Nagaland Police first in the country to administer Anti-Narcotic pledge

During the programme, Patton also administered the Anti-Narcotic pledge making Nagaland Police the first in the country to administer the pledge.

Meanwhile, Nagaland DGP Rupin Sharma, delivering the welcome address, stated that Nagaland Police has prioritized the War on Drugs as their top priority and informed that the Chief Minister and Dy. Chief Minister has also agreed this has to be a focus area.

He said there is a need for a multi-pronged approach to combat the menace of drugs and also educate the police personnel about the ill-effects of the menace and the seriousness of the problem.

In this connection, he said the Anti-Narcotics pledge has been administered, making Nagaland Police to first in the country to administer this anti-Narcotics pledge to all its personnels.

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