Vivek Tiwari muder: UP police not trigger-happy but people-friendly force, says DGP

Director general of police (DGP) OP Singh said on Thursday that the Uttar Pradesh police was not a trigger-happy but people-friendly force and there was no resentment among constables.

Singh was replying to a question on the simmering resentment among lower rung police personnel over arrest of two constables in Apple executive Vivek Tiwari murder case.

“The two constables involved in the Vivek Tiwari case are not brand ambassadors of the state police. They have been arrested and terminated from service. A few such in the state police force should not be defining the culture of the force,” Singh said.

The DGP said all supervisory officers, including additional DGs, IGs, DIGs and district police chiefs were interacting with the police constabulary across the state and there was no resentment among them. The officers had been told to interact with constable and tell them about the incident, explaining the circumstances under which the two accused constables were arrested and dismissed, he said.

“As chief of the state police, I have full faith on the state police constabulary of three lakh and they too have faith in police functioning,” he said, adding , “The state police force never gets involved in any illegal activity and those getting involved would not be spared”.

Questioned on social media posts related to police constables’ resentment, the DGP said the social media posts were misleading and cited an example, saying one such post showing constables with black bands on their wrists was an old photograph of around two years ago, when the constables protested over salary discrepancies .

Singh said the state police social media team was keeping a close watch on posts related to the incident and strict action would be taken against those getting involved in any act of indiscipline .

Holding lack of professional training responsible for such incidents, Singh said, “For the past couple of years, training was not imparted properly. It was the failure of the leadership at that time. The training was not professional and there was no emphasis on behavioural training.”

Elaborating further, the DGP said the training for constables recruited in 2013 was held in three phases.

The first was for six months in which 20,166 cops were trained, the second was between July 1, 2016, to Dec 31, 2016, in which 15,814 were trained and in the third phase from August 20, 2016 to February, 2017, 3,798 were trained, he said.

“We are going to hold refresher course for these constables. It will start from October 8 in Lucknow and will be held across the state. During the course, retired and serving officers and people from other walks of life will interact with the constables. Besides other aspects, our emphasis will be on behavioural training,” Singh said.

When asked about reports that constables were collecting money to help their arrested colleagues and gather support on social media, the DGP said, “We have alerted our officers and a close watch is being kept on social media.”

Emphasising on the need for better interaction, “direct dialogue” and friendly approach with the subordinate staff, the DGP said that he was the first one to have dinner with constables at a roadside restaurant.

“I believe in taking everyone along to make our force better and we are working in this direction,” he said.

First Published: Oct 05, 2018 14:26 IST