New face of police: IPS officers from engineering, medical and MBA background make a mark

What are the most popular job options after completing an engineering, medicine or MBA degree? Usually, a career in a corporate.
However, the upcoming batch of IPS officers beg to differ. Over the last few years, a large section of young IPS officers have come from diverse backgrounds of medical and business administration and are doing exceptionally well in civil service. According to a report by The Times of India, 70 percent of the officers from the batches that passed out in 2011, 2012 and 2013 are either engineers, doctors or hold MBA degrees.

The biggest advantage of having IPS officers from such  background is their fresh perspective towards the problems faced by the police force. Many of them have implemented innovative policing initiatives in their districts with successful results, prompting the the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD)to include them in the smart policing programme, continues the report.

Some of these initiatives, as mentioned in The Times of India,are both unique and effective. A software to trace stolen vehicles and find owners of impounded ones in Karnataka, a digital connection between all police stations in a Gujarat district for faster communication, a list of opinion-making people for faster spread of information during unrest in Delhi to and even a cricket-based program to engage with youth from Kashmir, these officers have already made their mark.

Take for example the success of Bengaluru cops’ revolutionary policing. In September 2014, the Bengaluru police DCP  Abhishek Goyal, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi, played a key role in launch of a social media initiative to reach out to the public.

An earlier article on Firstpost mentioned how they are effectively using the power of the internet. All their top officers have active social media accounts and update their official pages about traffic snarls, online complaints, and details of specific officers who can be contacted for specific issues.

Another such instance is of Ghaziabad’s ‘Operation Smile’ started by SSP Dharmendra Kumar which lead to 10 children being rescued from different parts of the district within four days of its commencement.

There are several other initiatives that the newer IPS officers have taken up that reflect the innovative face of smart policing and it remans to be seen how the incorporation of these highly educated personnel changes the functioning of the police.