Police should work to end 'crisis of credibility': Rajnath

Talking to young Indian Police Service (IPS) officers during his visit to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy here, he asked them to act with "empathy".

"I tell my politician friends also that there is a crisis of credibility in politics. There is a mismatch between words and deeds.

"Likewise, the police also works in public domain and this crisis is seen there too. This has to end. We have to take this as a challenge and end the crisis of credibility in public service life," he said at the academy.

Singh, on a day-long visit to the Telangana capital, said while police has to take some stern actions, they should always be judicious.

He urged the probationer IPS officers and those present from other services like the army to prepare themselves for the future challenges like cybercrime.

"I was recently told by a NCRB report that incidents of cybercrime had increased 2,400 per cent over the last decade. We have to be prepared to meet this challenge," he said. He asked the trainee officers to show "empathy" with not only the public that they come across during their course of work but also with their subordinates.

"Public service like yours should be done with a large heart. What we require is an attitude that is large hearted," he said adding they should remember that they are "public servants."

"I believe and hope that you will keep intact the high values of professional excellence, integrity and honesty when you go out and work in the field," he said.

He said the role of police is changing fast and it has to keep itself updated. Singh also noted that India is a country of diversities and all religions and people are respected here.

"We have 72 sects of Islam in our country which no Islamic country in the world has. We have the maximum Parsis here and we have the oldest church in this country," he said.

He also spoke about spirituality and said the "magnitude of happiness is directly proportional to the circumference of the heart".