THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Giving further impetus to the disciplinary action being taken against cops involved in anti-social activities, State Police Chief Anil Kant on Tuesday directed the district chiefs to expedite the action against tainted men in a foolproof manner.
Addressing the senior-most officers in the state during the crime review meeting, Anil said action against such cops should be taken irrespective of their rank, and the disciplinary action should be legally watertight.
“The action should be taken in a way that they won’t get any legal loopholes to escape from punishment. Expert legal opinion should be taken to ensure that,” he said.
The state police chief directed the district chiefs and the range DIGs to ensure that reports on cops having connections with anti-social elements should be regularly filed with the police headquarters. Anil, meanwhile, also emphasized the need to appreciate the good works of the officers in a timely manner.
The meeting also decided to enhance the crackdown on narcotics further and to conduct surprise checks on bus drivers who are suspected drug users, using special drug-testing kits. The department had found instances of bus drivers working under the influence of drugs. The licenses of those, who were found positive for drug use, will be recommended for cancellation.
A few questions were raised regarding the functioning of the district Special Branch. The district police chiefs were told to convene the meeting of the Special Branch officers weekly to review the information collected from the field.
The meeting also formulated an action plan to counter fraudulent activities in cyberspace. The police will model the actions taken by the Telangana police on this front. The state police will explore the possibility of setting up cyber modules similar to the ones started by the Telangana police. The Telangana police special cyber modules offer services such as monitoring cyber crimes, removing abusive content, assisting officers concerned, collating statuses of the complaints, upgrading the officers’ investigative skills and updating the standard operating procedure.
The meeting also decided to swiftly inform the competent authority appointed by the government once the police register cases against financial firms under BUDS (Banning of Unregulated Deposit Scheme).