PANAJI
As the Goa police came under mounting criticism over a series of break-ins and dacoities across the State, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant asked the force to “return to the basics,” rebuild human intelligence networks and stop relying almost entirely on CCTV footage.
In a closed-door meeting with senior officers mid last week, Sawant sharply rebuked the force for failing to crack a string of recent cases, and warned officers to place duty above the lure of “money-making through corrupt means.”
Sources told The Goan that when one officer proposed expanding CCTV coverage as a solution, Sawant slammed, stating that CCTV could not replace the ground-level intelligence gathering that once anchored Goa’s policing.
“Use CCTV as a tool for prevention. Don’t make yourself fully dependent on CCTV for the detection of crime,” he told the officers.
Sawant also directed the force to revive beat policing, strengthen field supervision and rebuild the human intelligence networks that, he noted, had long been central to Goa’s crime detection efforts.
