Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin called upon police personnel at all levels to work hard with responsibility to ensure that the entire State continued to remain a garden of peace, thus providing the right ambience for industrial development through the reduction and prevention of crimes and also to gear up for next year's elections.
Speaking at a meeting called to review the law and order situation in the State, Stalin reminded the officers of the impending elections, which might be announced for next year, and called upon them to prevent any breach in law and order by closely monitoring each and every event and taking appropriate and quick action.
Regretting that a wrong impression had been created among the people about a deterioration of law and order in the State by some newspapers and media channels in the last one month though a perusal of statistics revealed a reduction in crime rate from that of the previous year, he called upon the officers to interact with the media personnel on a regular basis.
Police officers should share correct information relating to crimes and their investigation, particularly the apprehension of culprits by quickly cracking down on them, with the media persons, and the Director General of Police should regularly hold press conferences to pass on information to the public on various events through the media, he said.
Emphasizing on the need to protect women and children, he urged the police to book child sex offenders under the POCSO Act, file the charge sheets within 60 days and ensure the conviction of the culprits by courts.
More special patrols should be organized near schools, colleges and places where women congregate in large numbers to monitor offenders and take quick action against them, he said, urging the police department to adopt a scientific approach using modern technology to identify crime-prone areas based on data.
Reminding the police officers of the impending elections, which might be announced for next year, the Chief Minister called upon them to maintain law and order and see to it that there was no disturbance to public peace by closely monitoring every event and taking appropriate and quick action.
By making use of the intelligence reports at the district level, every information should be analysed and quickly acted upon and also passed on to the law and order and crime branches concerned to nip the eruption of law and order problems in the bud itself.
Coordinating with the revenue department officials in the districts, would boost the efficiency of the police department several times, he said.
The chief minister wanted the police officials to hold awareness campaigns in schools and colleges on the POCSO Act and against drug abuse. Expressing happiness over the reduction in the illicit liquor trade in the last few months due to the crackdown by the police, he said the police action should continue.
Vigil on the State borders and the hilly regions was essential to prevent the cultivation of ganja and the smuggling of drugs, he said.
The Chief Minister also flagged the issue relating to social media posts often creating law and order problems and said that the police should monitor social media closely and file cases against those spreading hatred on the basis of religion and caste through swift action, he said.
