THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sensing that the young IPS officers serving as Superintends of Police (SPs) were not fully competent to handle the rigours of the job, the department has decided to promote 17 senior-most Deputy Superintendents (DySPs) as Additional Superintendents (ASPs).
The decision was taken a month back and the posts will be created soon. Police sources said the decision was taken to enhance the efficacy of police’s district-level administration.“Since the promoted officers have rich experience, their presence would be helpful for the rookie IPS officers to properly manage the law and order issues,” an officer from the Headquarters told ‘Express’.
The newly-appointed ASPs, police sources said, will assist the SPs in the same way DCPs ( Deputy Commissioners) assist city police Commissioners. The police top brass reckon that the city police have been able to perform well compared to their rural counterparts because the Commissioners have assistance of DCPs who help in managing crime, law and order and traffic.
The ASPs will serve in the rural police districts. The department have been rocked by cases of custodial torture and police highhandedness off late and it was another reason for the government to put in place a structure between the DySPs and SPs.
The police internal deliberations have also concluded that inexperience of the SPs and lack of coordination between the SPs and DySPs had resulted in an administrative vacuum. This was clearly felt during Kevin’s death in Kottayam and a few incidents of custodial tortures that has tarnished the police department’s image.
However, the decision has not gone down well with many. Former State Police Chief T P Senkumar said elevating DySPs to ASPs can pose a few technical problems. “The first headache will be their promotion. ASPs can only be transferred to such a post. On the other hand, the DySPs can be transferred to any other wing of the police. Then there would be technical complexities during their induction into IPS by conferment,” he said.
Sources said the matter of promotion of DySPs to ASPs had come up for discussion when Senkumar was at the helm. “But it was ultimately shot down due to technical issues and opposition from IPS officers,” a source said.
Another former chief felt the decision would affect the neutrality of the police force. “SPs are supposed to act in an objective manner and they are largely successful in that. If DySPs are sent to assist them, then they might use the chance to cast their influence on the young SPs due to their experience,” he said. “The only ones who would benefit from the decision are the DySPs as they would be getting an additional promotion,” he said.
Serving IPS officers too have raised their apprehensions regarding the move as they felt the decision would undermine the stature of IPS.