Punjab Police to hire domain experts to combat specialised crimes

Chandigarh, Mar 20 (PTI):
The Punjab Police will hire domain experts in various fields, including law, forensics and cyber security, to combat specialised crimes, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Saturday.
He claimed that the initiative, designed to transform the police force, will make Punjab the first state in the country to induct domain experts.
With changing nature of crime necessitating support and interventions by domain experts for their effective prevention and detection, the Punjab Police will soon recruit around 3,100 experts in the fields of law, forensics, digital forensics, information technology, data mining, cyber security, intelligence analysis, human resource management and development and road safety planning and engineering, said Singh, who also holds the Home portfolio.
Apart from 3,100 domain experts, 10,000 police personnel will be recruited at the level of sub-inspector and constable to expand the ground force and ensure more effective policing, he said in a statement here. Among the 10,000 personnel to be recruited in the police force, 3,400 will be women — 300 as sub-inspectors and 3,100 as constables.
Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said the domain experts would include around 600 law graduates, 450 crime scene investigators, 1,350 IT experts with specialist qualifications and experience in law, commerce, forensics, digital forensics, data mining, data analysis, etc. for deployment as cyber detectives, financial detectives, homicide detectives, sexual assault and rape detectives, etc. Singh said the move is aimed at further strengthening the state’s law enforcement machinery to address the new challenges of policing and investigation. The chief minister said that after stabilising the law and order situation over the past four years, his government is now focusing on augmenting law enforcement further with more touch points to tackle the new-age crimes like digital/cyber crimes and enhance the safety and security of women and other vulnerable sections of the society. The state government will also recruit around 460 qualified and trained counsellors, clinical psychologists and community and victim support officers for deployment at the family counselling centres and women help desks in all districts of the state, the police chief said. The DGP said that once these specialised police officers get recruited and join the police department in the second and third quarters of 2021, each of the 382 police stations in the state will have a dedicated police station law officer and a community and victim support officer.