SHILLONG: Former Shillong city SP and principal of the Police Training School, Vivek Syiem has asserted that rumour mongering can be fatal and there is a need for a system to connect the state police and the media fraternity
Speaking during a training on crime against women and children problem related to investigation and systemic intervention organised by Meghalaya Police here on Monday in which media persons also participated, Syiem said that the police also needed to be accessible. He added that media and police should go hand-in-hand in disseminating correct and verified information.
During the session, he also urged the police officers to ask women at the time of investigation if they wanted their names to go to the state crime records bureau since the details of the crimes are uploaded in the police website and media picks up the information from the website.
As far as traffic management is concerned, Syiem said that the media could also play an important role.
Earlier, R Muthu, Special SP (CID) said that police recognised the importance of media even as he added that both police and media needed to adhere to certain responsibilities.
Muthu also said that rape and POCSO cases were not published in police website
The president of the Shillong Press Club, David Laitphlang urged that the police to give timely information to the media about incidents which takes place in the state. “If the information does not come to media, we are left to speculate and believe in rumours,” he said while urging the police and media to develop a system to connect with each other.
Police officers from different districts also participated in the training