GUWAHATI, June 5 � Former State Director General of Police, Hare Krishna Deka, today expressed concern at the growing distrust between the police and public and called for a mechanism to reach out to the people. He said that a hostile media only helps to perpetuate the negative image of the police.
Inaugurating a three-day State-level workshop on �Media relations in crisis situation� at the police headquarters here, Deka said the police always felt that the media was nosey and always tried to give it a negative image by branding it as brutal, rude and unprofessional.
He said that avoiding the media cannot be a solution as the media was always hungry for news. This will encourage investigative journalism. And in the hands of untrained, amateur journalists, things will only get worse. Under the circumstances, the police should have a mechanism to reach out to the people. A spokesperson with good communication skills and who is a good judge of the situation can handle the problem to a great extent, he said.
Calling upon the police force to do some soul searching, the former DGP said the police should try to instill a sense of security among the people. He said the police should be trained to uphold the human rights of the people. Friendly and healthy relation between the police and public is possible, Deka said.
Former Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Gautam Kaul, speaking on the occasion said that the mishandling of the Aarushi murder case by the police vis-a-vis the press has made the authorities realise that police require training to interact with the media. He said that the National Bureau of Police Research and Development has been holding a number of workshops all over the country to sensitise the police officers.
Earlier, Bhaskar Mahanta, IGP(TAP) in his welcome address hoped that the senior police officers attending the workshop would benefit from the deliberations in improving their skills in their interactions with the press in the coming days.
