‘Integrity is paramount, don’t forget your roots’: Revanth tells new DSPs

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at the valedictory of training programme for Probationary Deputy Superintendents of Police in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy told the newly recruited DSPs not to forget their social and economic backgrounds or the circumstances that had brought them to the positions they occupied.

“Your knowledge, integrity and dedication have brought you here. Do not forget the purpose for which you joined the police service,” he said. His comments come in the wake of several police officers being trapped by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) like never before.

Mr. Reddy said their conduct and decisions would directly affect the government’s performance and public image. “Police were often the first institution people approached when confronted with a problem, sometimes even before turning to their own families, he said asking the DSPs to preserve the credibility built by generations of upright police officers.

The Chief Minister reminded everyone how the government handled the recruitment process when Group-I recruitment was mired in controversy during the BRS regime. “Overcoming all political challenges, the Congress government had completed the recruitment process, from issuing the notification to making appointments”, he reminded.

Describing the recruitment of 112 DSPs as a major achievement, he said the government had ensured complete transparency in the selection process through series of reforms in the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC) like appointing retired Director General of Police Mahender Reddy as the first chairman and subsequently senior IAS officer Venkatesham.

He cited drug abuse and trafficking as a major challenge for police and referred to Punjab’s difficulties in containing the menace despite its strong military tradition. The State government had established the EAGLE Force to deal firmly with drug trafficking and consumption, he said.

Stating that the government had also introduced new institutional mechanisms to address drug control, food safety, traffic management and cybercrime, he said it was prepared to send newly recruited DSPs abroad for exposure and study of policing practices, if required.

Responding to allegations of corruption and money changing hands in the recruitment process, Mr. Revanth Reddy said the fact that children of families dependent on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme had also secured appointments demonstrated the transparency of the process.