UP remarkably transformed its image, law and order since 2017: Adityanath

Lucknow, Dec 27 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the state has undergone a remarkable transformation in its perception and law and order machinery over the last eight-and-a-half years.

After inaugurating 'Police Manthan', a two-day conference of senior officers, at the police headquarters here, Adityanath lauded the achievements of Uttar Pradesh Police and said there has been a remarkable transformation in the state's perception and law enforcement machinery since his government assumed office in 2017.

Sharing his vision for 'Smart Policing', he highlighted decisive progress since 2017 in recruitment, training, infrastructure, cyber security, forensics, and the police commissionerate system.

He noted that while training capacity was previously limited, over 60,000 constables are now being trained within the state.

Institutional changes such as cyber stations in all 75 districts, 12 FSL labs, and a forensic University reflect the state's new proactive approach, he said.

"Uttar Pradesh Police has established a sense of fear among criminals and respect among citizens," Adityanath said, and added that policing has shifted from being reactive to proactive and predictive.

Earlier, Director General of Police (DGP) Rajiv Krishna said that the chief minister's presence underscores the leadership's commitment to policing challenges.

Krishan traced the transformative journey of the state since 2017, highlighting the "Zero Tolerance" policy and the goal of delivering responsive, "citizen-first" services.

Adityanath inaugurated the conference and launched an AI-based 'YAKSH' app to strengthen policing and preventive law enforcement in the state, a statement issued here said.

The conference, focused on challenges ranging from cybercrime and human trafficking to emerging issues such as social media, they said, adding that it will conclude on Sunday.

In a post on X, the UP Police said officers will participate in 11 sessions to shape the strategic priorities and future road map for policing.

Adityanath was accorded a traditional guard of honour at the event, it said.

"The objective of the conference is to strengthen people-centric policing, develop a technology-based modern policing system and ensure effective and swift action against crime and criminals," the DGP told reporters. Krishna said the conference replaces the traditional annual "Police Week" to ensure a sharper focus for outcome-oriented brainstorming sessions.

During the event, the chief minister also launched 'YAKSH' app, a digital version of the beat book developed using AI and big data analytics, officials said, adding that the app will maintain comprehensive data on crimes, criminals and sensitive areas.

YAKSH will simplify the daily work of beat personnel through features -- station-wise offender databases, beat-level verification, AI-based suspect identification, voice search, gang-link analysis and movement alerts, they said.

Several thematic sessions were held on the first day, with detailed presentations on beat policing, technology-driven initiatives, and best practices made before Adityanath, police sources said.

Discussions also covered women-related crimes, child protection and human trafficking, with Additional Director General of Police (Women and Child Security Organisation) Padmaja Chauhan sharing details on key initiatives, including Mission Shakti centres, awareness programmes, family dispute resolution clinics, and law enforcement in rape cases.

ADG Gorakhpur Zone Ashok Mutha Jain gave a presentation on the Bahu-Beti Sammelan, while deliberations were also held on police station management and upgradation.

Another officer presented the "Smart SHO Dashboard", which will allow station house officers to monitor complaints, crimes, and staff performance on a single platform.

The dashboard will improve grievance redressal, reduce pendency, enhance accountability of police personnel and make traffic management and crime monitoring more effective, officials said.

During the event, DG (Cyber Crime) Binod Kumar Singh discussed capacity building with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the role of Cyber Help Desks in tackling evolving digital threats, the statement said.

DG (Training) Rajiv Sabharwal discussed the behavioural improvements among personnel. He also focused on health schemes for families, the use of the i-GOT portal for officers' online training and the role of "Vamasarathi" in women empowerment, it said.

DG (Prosecution) Dipesh Juneja discussed an e-reporting portal for monitoring mafias and 12 KPIs for prosecutors. DG (Prisons) Prem Chand Meena highlighted the digitisation of jails, including AI-based CCTV surveillance, health ATMs, and the use of video conferencing for over 50,000 court testimonies, it added.

The data-driven policing under the new criminal codes (Nyay Sanhita) was discussed by ADG (Technical Services) Naveen Arora. He focused on e-FIR, Zero FIR, e-Summon, and e-Sakshya, it said. PTI CDN NAV SHS SHS