Future-ready police force led by young officers will play major role in making of ‘Viksit Bharat’: Prez Murmu

President Droupadi Murmu on Monday said a future-ready police force led by young officers will play a major role in the making of ‘Viksit Bharat’.

“Effective policing is as important as economic incentives in promoting investment and growth,” the President said while addressing Probationers of Indian Police Service 77 RR (2024 batch) at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Addressing the probationers, the President said India is the fastest growing major economy in the world. We need increasingly larger public and private investments for sustaining and accelerating our economic growth.”

She emphasised that law and order is a necessary precondition for attracting investment in any state or region.

The President said young officers occupy positions of power and authority.

“So they should keep in mind that with authority comes accountability,” she said.

The President said their actions and conduct will always be under public scrutiny.

“They should remember to choose what is ethical and not what is expedient. Just and fair procedures should be followed even when dealing with exigencies,” she said.

“While they derive a lot of powers from the laws and systems, the real authority will come from their personal and professional integrity,” the President said.

She emphasised that moral authority will earn them everyone’s respect and trust.

The President said a police officer deals with crime and criminals almost all the time. “This may have a desensitising effect on them and blunt their humaneness,” she said.

The President urged officers that in the course of becoming an effective officer, they should make a special effort to keep their own compassionate core intact.

She underlined that technology has substantially altered the space of policing.

“Just about ten years ago, the expression ‘digital arrest’ would have been impossible to understand. Today, it is one of the most dreaded threats to citizens. India has one of the largest and fastest growing AI user-bases. This is going to impact policing also,” the President said.

She said IPS officers should be several steps ahead in adopting new technologies, including AI, compared to those who will use these technologies with wrongful intent.