AIR Spotlight: All India Conference of DGPs and IGPs

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio News on air. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation.

This article is about the discussion on: “All India Conference of DGPs and IGPs- Policing and Security, Emerging Issues and Challenges”.

Participants – 

P.K Mishra – Former Additional Director General Border Security Force (BSF).

Rajesh Lekh – AIR Correspondent.

Context – The All India Conference of DPs and IGPs held discussions on futuristic themes in policing and security –  to ensure not only safety in the present times but also to develop the capability to meet emerging issues and challenges.

Introduction –

The three day 57th All India Conference of DGPs and IGPs was inaugurated by Home Minister Amit Shah. A wide range of issues including Cyber Crime, Technology in Policing, Counter Terrorism challenges, Left Wing Extremism, Capacity Building, and Prison Reforms formed part of discussions during the conference. 

• The 57th All-India Conference of Directors General and Inspectors General of Police was also attended by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi at the National Agricultural Science Complex in New Delhi.
• The conference was held in a hybrid mode. About 100 invitees including DGPs of states/ UTs and heads of  Central Armed Police Forces and Central Police Organisations attended the conference physically and while the rest participated virtually. 
• The conference was previously organised at Guwahati in 2014; Dhordo, Rann of Kutch in 2015; National Police Academy, Hyderabad in 2016; BSF Academy, Tekanpur in 2017; Kevadiya in 2018; IISER (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research), Pune in 2019; and at Police Headquarters, Lucknow in 2021.
• The Intelligence wings from all the states/UTs attended the conference  and presented their best practices which they are adopting to control the crimes with new technologies, how intelligence is shared from SHO level up to district level, state level etc. 

Prior to 2014, the deliberations largely focused on national security matters only. However, after 2014, these conferences have a twin focus of national security as well as core policing issues, including prevention and detection of crime, community policing, law and order, improving the police image, etc.

Cyber Crime 

• Cyber crime, also known as internet crime, is a fast growing mode of crime since the past decade. Cyber crime is now one of the biggest issues globally as criminals syphon off millions of dollars by hacking into people’s bank accounts.
  • For example -the recent cyber attack on AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), Delhi which compromised the personal information of millions of patients. The attack targeted five major servers of the leading hospital.
• Cyber crimes pose challenges to the state and local police departments. The need of the hour is to develop core skills in cyber-security, data integrity, and data security fields and setting up of stringent cyber-security standards to protect the institutional infrastructure of the country.

Counter Terrorism in North East and Jammu & Kashmir-

• Counter-terrorism, also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism.
• The need of the hour is to Strengthen the state police by enhancing their training capabilities and providing them with modern equipment for surveillance, investigation and operation to combat terrorism.

Left wing Extremism (LWE)-

• LWE organisations are the groups that try to bring change through violent revolution. They are against democratic institutions and use violence to subvert the democratic processes at ground level. The movement has spread across Eastern India and in less developed areas of states such as Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, West Bengal  and Andhra Pradesh.
• Though the number of incidents of LWE violence has come down in the recent past, continued efforts and focus are needed in eliminating such groups.
• Some of the corrective measures to tackle LWE include modernising the police force, social integration, infrastructure development and smart policing (Smart policing promotes integration & interoperability of information & communication systems).

New Technology in Policing

The Prime Minister told the heads of all states/UT police , central paramilitary forces and intelligence agencies to use technology to their advantage by upgrading their systems and training their personnel in new technologies. 

• During the conference, emphasis was laid on the importance of the National Data Governance Framework for smoothening of data exchange across agencies.
• The agencies engaged in various aspects of internal security should further leverage technological solutions like biometrics etc and at the same time should further strengthen traditional policing mechanisms like foot patrolling.

Conclusion –

•  There is a need for enhanced cooperation and operational synergy among all states/UT police forces and central agencies and they should leverage capabilities and share best policing practices among them. 
• The need for technological solutions for better policing comes in the backdrop of emerging new challenges like cyber threats, narco terror, data theft, crypto-currencies, use of encrypted platforms for radicalisation and other trans-national crimes etc. 
• There is a need for repealing obsolete criminal laws and building standards for police organisations across the states.

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