Not trigger-happy but people-friendly: UP top cop defends Apple executive death

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh police is not trigger-happy but people-friendly, state police chief OP Singh said on Thursday, holding lack of professional training responsible for incidents such as that of the shooting of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari last week.

The DGP also said it has been decided that a refresher course would be held for constables recruited between 2013 and 2017.

To a question on the killing of Vivek Tiwari, 38, in Lucknow, he said, "The two constables (involved in the incident) are not brand ambassadors of the state police."

"We are not trigger-happy but people-friendly. Why did they shoot a person without a firearm? They have been arrested and dismissed (from service). A few such in the force should not be defining the culture of the force," OP Singh told PTI.

Vivek Tiwari was shot dead early on September 29 by a policeman when he allegedly refused to stop his car for checking in Lucknow's posh Gomti Nagar neighbourhood.

Two constables, Prashant Chowdhury and Sandeep Kumar, were arrested after a complaint was lodged on basis of a complaint by Vivek Tiwari's colleague Sana Khan, who was travelling with him.

Holding lack of profession training responsible for such incidents, OP Singh said, "For the past couple of years, training was not imparted properly. It was failure of leadership of that time. The training was not professional and there was no emphasis on behavioural training."

Elaborating further, the DGP said the training for constables recruited in 2013 were held in three phases.

The first was for six months in which 20,166 recruitees were trained, the second was between July 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016, in which 15,814 were trained and in the third phase from August 20, 2016, to February, 2017, in which 3,798 recruitees were trained, he said.

"We are going to hold refresher course for these constables. It will start from October 8 in Lucknow and will be done across the state, during which besides retired and serving officers, people from other walks of life will interact with constables. Besides other aspects, our emphasis will be on behavioural training," OP Singh said.

When asked about reports that constables were collecting money to help their arrested colleagues and gather support on social media, the DGP said, "We have alerted our officers and close watch is being kept on social media."

The officers have been asked to interact with constables, tell them about the incident, and explain to them circumstances under which the two accused constables were arrested and dismissed, he said.