Bhubaneswar: It will be a big challenge for the police administration when simultaneous elections are held this year, Director General of Police (DGP) RP Sharma said Thursday.
Addressing the 61st Senior Police Officers’ Conference here, he stated that preparations to ensure free and fair elections in the state have already begun. As of now, the police personnel are being sensitised about their roles during election procedures, he said. He also informed the media that the Chief Electoral Officer, who is scheduled to participate in the three-day conference, will interact with the police officials in order to sensitise them on handling law and order situations, if any, during the upcoming elections.
The sensitisation programme will follow many such events at the police station level including in various remote areas in the state.
“In the past, too, we have successfully conducted polls in Maoist-hit areas. This time, we will follow the same procedure in the sensitive zones,” he said. The three-day conference here, which began Thursday, will discuss law and order, crime scenario, Left-wing extremism (LWE), police arrangement for the mega events and road safety among other issues. Sharma said the state police would intensify operations in LWE-hit districts.
“Our priority will be to work in close coordination with our counterparts in neighbouring states for sharing and strengthening of intelligence network and monitoring the movement of Maoists,” he said.
The DGP, during his address, also said that tackling mass agitation is gradually becoming a challenge for the police across the country and also in Odisha.
Sharma asked the police officers to maintain transparency and seek cooperation of people for carrying out their job.
District superintendents of police, DCPs, Commandants of Armed Police Battalions, Range IGPs, senior officers as well as the Home Guards, Fire Services and members of Civil Defence Organisations were among those who attended the first day of the conference here.
Meanwhile, the DGP, speaking on the rising cybercrimes in the state, said, “We need massive public awareness campaign as well as skilled investigators to stem the rise of cybercrimes and also to catch the criminals by doing proper investigations.”
He said that a slew of training programmes for the police officials investigating into such cases will be organsied by the Odisha Police in the current year.