TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Admitting that there is corruption in the police, Director General of Police T N Mohan on Wednesday said that a vigilance squad will be set up to “police the police”.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the level of corruption in the police force Mohan said, “We are not happy with the levels of corruption in the police force. Whatever reports we are getting are that the level of corruption is simply unacceptable.”
The DGP said that an organized racket within the force is targeting tourists in the State as they are a soft target, adding that the previous chief minister had pointed this out to him.
“The unsavoury presence of police personnel in places like spas, parlours, hotels and beaches has been reported. We have stopped non-uniformed deployment in such places,” he said.
Under the new system, policemen will be allowed in these places in civilian clothes only after permission from their superiors and on a case-to-case basis.
The modus operandi, he said, was to raid places playing loud music, or where some entertainment activities are on. “When they raid they should stop activities if they are against the law,” the DGP said.
Mohan said certain elements had complained to higher-ups in the government about this crackdown, but he insisted that not all the police officers were corrupt. There were several ‘bad eggs’ he said.
The police chief said that in order to curb corruption, police had created a special Vigilance Department to keep tabs on corruption in the force and dossiers are being prepared.
He said that if possible criminal action would be taken against them, if not files would be maintained to keep a check on their activities.
Mohan also said that a helpline which was announced by police on Wednesday could help cut down policemen collecting ‘hafta’ especially in the coastal tourism belt.
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1723 personnel (including 500 on traffic duty) are being deployed exclusively for the Exposition while 600 are on duty for IFFI in three shifts with eight towers to keep watch. 400 police personnel are under training in Tamil Naidu. They should join duty by December 1. Almost 300 personnel from Maharashtra police will be there till the end of the Exposition.
