When Brijesh Kumar Gupta, a 1975-batch Indian Police Services officer takes over at the ceremonial ground in New Police Lines as Delhi’s 17th police commissioner on Wednesday morning, he will not only inherit a strong and robust force but also a technically more efficient one from incumbent Mr Y.S. Dadwal.
Mr Gupta, who was earlier DG (prisons) Tihar jail, is however faced with the challenge of addressing growing public concerns over the cases of police apathy in the national capital. There have been incidents reported in the city where the idea of policing was not only allegedly violated by the cops themselves but also bent to suit their interests with the former city top cops suggesting that the force needs proper training at the induction level on how to deal with public to correct its image of an “unprofessional and agricultural” force.
There have also been frequent cases of charges of corruption against Delhi police personnel, which further leads to mistrust between public and the police.
During Mr Dadwal’s stint, heinous crime incidents like murder and robberies dipped sharply as more than 10,000 new recruits were inducted into the Delhi police, which resulted in an omnipresence of cops in the city.
However, crime never died down and people continued to be terrorised by petty snatchers and bad characters who sometimes thrive on the cover of local policemen in the city. However, new technological devices like a special radar vehicle, which connects CCTV cameras in various markets to the C4i Centre at the police headquarters were introduced and special vehicles and armoury along with hi-tech gadgetry were purchased, which resulted in more effective policing in a volatile city like Delhi during Mr Dadwal’s tenure.
“I am happy that we organised Commonwealth Games successfully. Crime rate in my tenure has fallen to the lowest in the past 40 years,” Mr Dadwal said on the sidelines of a farewell function held in Civil Lines on Tuesday.