Smartphones banned for on-duty J&K cops
› The tendency (to use phones on duty) not only lowered the image of police organisation but also compromises with personal security of the individual.
JAMMU AND KASHMIR POLICE DEPARTMENT
SRINAGAR:The Jammu and Kashmir police have blamed the overuse of smartphones by its personnel for the rise in the number of incidents of weapon snatching across the strife-torn state and banned their use during duty hours, especially by sentries.
“The tendency not only lowered the image of police organisation but also compromises with personal security of the individual. This speaks volumes about the lack of supervision and sensitisation of lower subordinates with inputs and overall security situation in and around a particular area,” the department said on Wednesday.
The order issued by the additional director general of police (armed) Arun Kumar Choudhary has also introduced a number of dos and don’ts to be followed by policemen.
Choudhary said in the order that all sentries, particularly on guard duty, will have to wear bullet-proof gear and chain their weapons with their belts.
He added that guards will introduce improvised alarm system and remain available round the clock in guardrooms “in a state of alertness and in proper uniform during day-time”.
“All guard personnel shall ensure compliance with the standing drill in letter and spirit. They shall have liaise with nearest district police installations/ security force’s (SFs) pickets,” the order added.
Government data presented in the state assembly in January this year shows that 149 guns and 102 tear gas shells and grenades were looted by militants in Jammu and Kashmir in the past three years out of which 76 were recovered.
Of the 149 rifles and pistols, 66 were snatched in 2016 mostly in south Kashmir after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.
The weapon-snatching incidents have witnessed an increase in central and north Kashmir.
There have been five incidents, three of which have been successful, of weapon snatching or attempts to steal them from police posts guarding politicians, minority community, hotels and educational institutions across Kashmir this month.
The police lost six weapons in these incidents and the photographs of five of them were circulated on social media indicating they fell into militants.
A policeman guarding a BJP leader in north Kashmir’s Sopore decamped with the rifle of his colleague on Wednesday.
A constable was killed on May 11 in a suspected militant attack on a police post set up to guard members of the minority community in central Kashmir’s Budgam.
The militants involved in the attack wanted to snatch force’s weapons but a policeman, who was waylaid by militants outside his post, raised an alarm.