MHA tells police to highlight positive stories, good work

Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice, the Union Home Ministry has asked the police to highlight positive stories and good work to mitigate their negative image.
In a letter to DGPs of all states, Union Home Secretary L C Goyal suggested that necessary arrangements should be made and a system should be put in place to ensure publication of positive stories and good work being done particularly at the police station level.
Goyal said the Prime Minister, addressing a conference of DGPs held in Guwahati in November 2014, had emphasised the importance of SMART policing and the need to project the good work being done by the state police.

"This was primarily to mitigate the negative image that the police ordinarily has," the letter said.
While the operationalisation of SMART policing (S stands for Sensitive and Strict; M-Modern with mobility; A- Alert and Accountable; R-Reliable and Responsive; T- Trained and Techno-savvy) will improve the overall image, efficiency and effectiveness of the state police, a lot of good work being done right upto the police station level across the country needs to be highlighted in a systematic and institutionalised manner.
"It is in this context that positive stories and good work being done at the police station level or by any other police office at the district level or below should be identified and put in public domain on a website in the office of district SSP/SP and Commissioner of Police. Other means of social media can also be leveraged for this purpose," Goyal said.

Sources said a national conference, involving all states and Union territories, for speedy implementation of the plans to introduce SMART policing will be held soon.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has already said that as a first step towards SMART policing, the government will establish one model SMART police station in each state.
The Home Ministry has decided to allocate specific funds for setting up of SMART police stations in each state.
The Ministry will work with state governments for setting up more SMART police stations during the current financial year.
Efforts will also be made to involve the private sector and their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to expand the roll out of SMART Police Stations, sources said.