HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday said the police system must be upgraded to deal with emerging crimes such as cyber offences, narcotics trafficking and activities on dark web platforms, observing that the nature of crime has undergone a major shift in recent years.
Speaking at the Police Officers’ Retreat–2026 held at the Telangana Police Academy, Revanth said policing frameworks and manuals were largely designed to deal with conventional physical crimes and now need to evolve to address new-age threats. “Police manuals are there mostly to deal with physical crime. Today, physical crime is not there. Cybercrime has entered our era. Drugs, narcotics, and the dark web are new problems for us. New crimes have entered the system. The scope of crime has changed,” he said.
Addressing senior police officials, Revanth suggested preparing a comprehensive action plan to meet policing requirements for the next 25 years. He also announced that the government would constitute a committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to examine the outcomes of the retreat and bring them under an appropriate legal framework.
He further suggested forming an internal committee to rationalise police personnel and advised that Greyhound forces be readjusted to other units as combing operations have reduced. Revanth also emphasised the need to integrate all data with the Integrated Command and Control Centre to improve coordination among various departments and police wings.
Stressing the importance of coordination within the police department, he said, “Unlike other departments, police cannot function on autopilot mode. The department should continuously evolve.”
Revanth also said policing now faces two major challenges — technological and adaptive. “Challenge is two verticals. One is a technical challenge and another is an adoption challenge. To understand and solve the technical challenge, we need resources and time. To solve the adoption challenge, we should have common sense. We will get a 50% solution, if we rightly understand what the problem is,” he said. Highlighting the importance of law and order for economic growth, the chief minister said no country or state can attract investment without a stable security environment.
“If we rule without policies, then policy paralysis will come. I don’t want to take that risk. That is why I decided to take a policy — Telangana Rising 2047 Policy, aiming to make Telangana a $3 trillion by 2047. Telangana contributes 5% to GDP with only 2.5% population in the country. The government wants to make Telangana the most developed state in the country,” he said.
Revanth also said climate change and growing urban challenges must be addressed to ensure sustainable development. “National capital Delhi has become one of the most polluted cities in the world. Bangalore is facing severe traffic problems, Chennai is facing flooding issues and Mumbai struggles with traffic and pollution. We do not want Hyderabad to face such a situation. There is a need to understand the climate change post-Covid. That is the biggest challenge for us,” he said.