Rajendran assumes charge as Chennai police commissioner
Rajendran also had words of appreciation for the outgoing commissioner S. George
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-10-11 06:26 GMT
Chennai: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) T.K. Rajendran officially assumed charge, on Saturday, as the 101st commissioner of the city police taking over from former commissioner S. George.
George, who had an extended run as the city police commissioner with tenure of close to three years, has been transferred to head the state prisons department. The new city police commissioner chose to maintain a low profile on his first day as he steered clear of answering questions from the press and read from a prepared text.
“I am thankful to the honourable Chief Minister for posting me as the Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai police,” he said adding, “This is a very responsible position and I would do my best to meet the expectations.”
Rajendran also had words of appreciation for the outgoing commissioner S. George. “My predecessor has done a commendable job and I will continue to do the good work,” he said.
Later in the day, the commissioner held a meeting with the top brass of the city police — Additional Commissioners — Abash Kumar (South), V.A. Ravi Kumar (North), P. Thamaraikannan (Traffic), R. Nallasivam (Central Crime Branch). A separate meeting with intelligence officers was also held to review the law and order situation in the city.
A 1984 batch IPS officer, Rajendran (58) is a native of Olaipadi village in Tiruvannamalai district and holds a postgraduate degree in Defence Studies. He was serving as the ADGP, Law & Order, Tamil Nadu.
Dear CoP, Let inspectors at stations be available to public
Apart from continuing with former commissioner’s visible policing concept through which police vehicles with red and blue flash lights started getting deployed in every nook and corner in the city, the new commissioner will have make sure that petitioners are handled in the local station itself.
Station inspectors should be available for people to meet at a given time of the day, so that people with grievance would not queue up at the offices of his superiors. Former city police chief S. George, believed in decentralised way of functioning with responsibility and accountability fixed on each supervising officer. The new commissioner can also try to interact more with the field staff so that he can feel the pulse of his men Rajendran can also think of sensitising his field officers when dealing with mediapersons to avoid occasional conflicts between two sides.
Need marketing guru for Freedom Bazaar
As head of the prison department, George too has to continue with the welfare programmes already on track. The prison’s Freedom Bazaar, a concept of doing business with products made by prisoners, has started generated good income.
It was Rs 36 crore in 2014. He should think of better and more marketing strategies to popularise the concept and generate more income. Prison ADGP also has the task of evolving strategies to handle occasional violence inside the jail akin to the incident that happened last month. It is always better to identify trouble makers and make sure such characters don’t get a chance to stay together.
At the same time there should be harsh measures to curtail the inflow of contraband inside the jails. Most of the time, contraband finds its way to the prisons with the help of some jail staff.
Surprise visits, meeting jurisdiction officers will matter
As the man in charge of the law and order of the entire state (other than Chennai city), Tripathy has a tough task ahead particularly at a time when police image had suffered some dents recently following DSP Vishnupriya’s suicide and allegations against some members of the police force of involvement in sexual abuse of minor girl.
He should be a hands-on officer in control of his subordinates across the state. Apart from depending on his subordinates for feedback on different situations, he should develop a parallel management information system to get real time reports from the field.
Regular surprise visits to various districts and meeting jurisdiction officer on their home turf will make sure that ADGP means business. It is difficult to remote control police officers.
Tripathy has a reputation of being fast and man who can grasp things. He is also an officer who is ready to listen and open to suggestion.