The September incident – the siege and attack of the high-security US Consulate by Muslim groups in protest against an American anti-Islamic film – was easily the biggest setback to the Chennai City Police in recent times, raising questions about maintenance of law and order in the metropolis.
No wonder then, that in a swift damage-control exercise, the State government replaced Commissioner of Police J K Tripathy with 1984-batch officer of the Indian Police Service ADGP
S George, the man who managed the fierce anti-Koodankulam protests in the State.
Two months in the hot seat, the police force under the IIT techie-turned-cop has done some intense stock-taking of the incident and tried to restore their image. “Developments of events in the city can be sudden,” the police commissioner pointed out. “They can be unexpected too. Agitations and demonstrations have been organised without notice many times. We take efforts to foresee all these by collecting Intelligence through various channels.”
It was clear that the attack caught the cops unaware. Hence, taking a cue from the incident and the ensuing traffic snarls, intelligence mechanisms have been further strengthened, the top cop said. Steps have been taken for planned security arrangements. “In cases of processions and demonstrations, only approved places are given.”
But George also called for increased awareness among groups about the inconvenience caused to the public by their actions. “Whether the police can take legal action or not is beside the point,” he said. “There has to be some awareness among groups that no matter what the cause, the public should not be inconvenienced.”
But he also warned that police would take immediate steps to remove them, so that members of the public are not inconvenienced, and pursue legal action against them.
Social media crimes
The top cop does not mince words either when it comes to the controversy raging around social networking sites. “Social networking media are great channels of communication,” he acknowledged. “Each individual has great reach to many in a matter of a few seconds.”
For the same reasons, unfortunately, certain individuals sitting within the comforts of their home use this media to hurt others, damage their reputation, threaten them, defame them and assassinate their character, he rued. “There are many cases when the victims have approached us with an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Many a time, they do not know who is doing it.”
Striking a serious note, the senior police official said there were a number of instances when lives had fallen apart, even driving some people to take extreme steps. Listing the nature of complaints received by the police, he said: “Pictures of girls have been put on a website, portraying them as call girls and posting their numbers on the sites; fabricated health documents are posted as if the individual is suffering from diseases with stigma; there have been morphed pornographic pictures, defamatory material assassinating somebody’s character, fabricated documents, threat letters...”
He warns, “All these are actionable under law. Read Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act," Interestingly, a total of 156 cases have been registered between 2009-2012, with 41 cases registered so far this year.
Echoing a recent SC direction, he, however, pointed out that in all such cases application of mind was necessary before taking any action. “Application of mind at senior officer level is required,” he added.
Youth Brigade
“In Chennai city now, we emphasize on police visibility,” the CoP said, outlining his new initiatives. “Our aim is to keep the city safe when it sleeps.”
Pointing to the Chief Minister’s announcement on the formation of ‘Youth Brigade,’ the IPS officer said that once that materialised, the presence of policing in the city both during day and night would increase. Another shot in the arm has been the increase in the number of patrol vehicles. “Recently, the CM flagged off 100 patrol vehicles. At the moment, we have 184 patrol vehicles to visit residential areas, flat complexes and interact with the association members.”
Another new initiative has been the launch of the mass grievance redressal mechanism on Saturday and Sunday, where the complainants and counter-petitioners are summoned and their issues sorted out.
The CoP spells out his goal: Crime prevention, then crime detection. “The entire night policing system has now been streamlined in the city to prevent crimes as much as possible through effective use of the available forces, home guards and patrol vehicles.”
