Being a police officer is not just a job but a profession and personnel should see it as such, Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said today.
He said this at the 1st Meghalaya Police Battalion’s golden jubilee celebration in Mawlai Mawiong.
“Joining the police is not employment, it is a profession. If you consider it as just a job, the dedication of duty will slowly be reduced and this profession will become just like those in other departments,” he said. “I urge the youths who aspire to join the police force not to take it as an employment but as a profession to serve the society to the best of your ability.”
The challenges of being in the police are huge – long work timings, physical danger and operating in the public eye, or a glass house, as the minister put it.
Despite society’s need for the police, there is a certain amount of mistrust between the public and the authorities and this is something that needs to be worked on. However, he sees it as a positive sign that law and order problems, Rymbui said, have decreased in the last few years not only thanks to the endeavours of the police but also because the public want peace.
He also praised the force for being able to solve most criminal cases and hoped that the peace talks with the outlawed Hynñiewtrep National Liberation Council will bring lasting peace to the state.
