‘Adopt emerging tech along with strengthening traditional policing’

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sought more cooperation between state police forces and central agencies to leverage capabilities, and stressed on enhancing traditional mechanisms of policing such as foot patrols along with adopting technological solutions.

Addressing the 57th All India Conference of Director Generals and Inspector Generals of Police here, he also recommended repealing obsolete criminal laws and building standards for police organisations across states. The prime minister stressed on enhanced cooperation between state police and central agencies to leverage capabilities and share best practices, according to an official statement.

He also discussed “strengthening the border as well as coastal security by organising frequent visits of officials”, it said. Modi also said that police forces should be made more sensitive and trained in emerging technologies, and underscored the importance of the National Data Governance Framework for smoothening data exchange across agencies.

He suggested that while police forces should further leverage technological solutions such as biometrics, there is also a need to further strengthen traditional policing mechanisms such as foot patrols.

Modi also favoured prison reforms to improve jail management. The prime minister called for replicating the model of DGP-IGP conferences at the state and district levels for discussing emerging challenges and evolving best practices among their teams.

The conference covered various aspects of policing and national security, including counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and cybersecurity.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval attended the three-day meet which began on January 20. Around 600 officers of various levels attended the conference in hybrid mode from states and union territories.

“Since 2014, Modi has taken a keen interest in the DGPs’ conference. Unlike the symbolic presence of prime ministers earlier, he sits through all major sessions of the conference,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office had earlier said. It had also said that the prime minister not only listens patiently to all the inputs, but also encourages free and informal discussions so that new ideas can come up.

This provides a congenial atmosphere for the top police officials of the country to directly brief the prime minister on key policing and internal security issues, and give open and frank recommendations, the statement had said.