CHENNAI: Pro-active policing is good when everything is normal but effective policing will bring fear among the criminals and they will think twice before committing any crime, but when you crime to take place there is no point in claiming policing is good says former Chennai Police Commissioner and TN ‘s former Director General of Police (DGP), IPS retired, Mr. R. Nataraj. Earlier there was this presence of this one Sub Inspector whose very presence struck fear among criminals and criminals would lie low, saying, “That particular SI has been shifted here and he is a tough customer, but nowadays we are unable to hear such things as most of them are firefighting, or the forces are being deployed in huge numbers in some other place. Earlier rowdies were paraded and people would identify them but now they are taken away in vans and no one knows who is going where. There is also no effective deterrent like fear of the Police. Another thing is about officers. The general public is unable to see them on the roads. Senior Police officers must be out in field making their presence felt on the streets and they should not sit inside their offices, said Mr. Nataraj. Effective prevention and hands-on supervision must be done. Tamil Nadu needs brave, visible leadership for their subordinates to emulate in providing effective policing, he said. When I was a Police officer I used to do says Mr. Nataraj. I will be out on the road and I continued that practice even when I was the Commissioner of Police. Many officers like Deputy Commissioners use to be visible on the roads, this helped us to be better citizens, he said. For example, the presence of a traffic constable brings a sense of fear, and violators would be afraid to disobeying traffic rules. Traffic Police should enforce the law with their sheer presence this will help in stopping traffic offender from jumping signals and rash driving will come down. People assume that accidents just happen, no this is not right, it is people who cause accidents. Mr. Nataraj said, drunk driving or violating lane discipline or failure to wear helmets, a Policeman by his sheer presence can effectively change the situation on the ground. Prevention is very important. The nature of crime is changing, people are changing. The Police force is facing a huge challenge today, he said. There is no doubt in it; values in society are deteriorating and all these leads to discipline. A former intelligence Police officer used to say, “If discipline is maintained in the house, there won’t be delinquency in society but in spite of this”, changes in society cannot be a barrier in enforcing law and order. Police uniforms should be visible on the road and this will instill respect for the law, Mr. Nataraj said. ]]>
