President Murmu Asks IPS Probationers to Rethink Cyber Policing

Probationers of the Indian Police Service, 78 RR (2025 batch), called on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 10 November 2026. Addressing the officer trainees, the President dwelt on cyber crime, organised misinformation and the kind of conduct that earns a police officer public trust.

Police as the face of governance

The President said that for ordinary citizens the police officer and the constable stand for governance itself, and that people judge governance to be good when the police system works well. A grievance heard with sensitivity and attention, she said, leaves a citizen feeling genuinely supported. She asked the trainees to put first the fears of people from socially or economically weaker backgrounds, who rarely have the access to senior officials that others enjoy.

Authority, respect and teamwork

• Laws and policing rules confer a high degree of authority, but real respect comes from performance and from an officer's own value system.
• Officers should carry a sense of commitment to serving citizens rather than a sense of superiority over them.
• Some members of the force may handle technology better than their seniors, so trainees should be willing to learn even from the juniormost colleague.
• Public participation and teamwork should shape their style of working, and looking after the welfare of team members lifts both capability and enthusiasm.

Misinformation and smart policing

The President described the deliberate spread of misinformation to frighten people as a serious and growing problem. Orchestrated disinformation can sway impressionable minds, particularly among the young, and such mischief may be engineered at the local, the regional or even the national level. Smart policing, she said, can stop such situations from growing large and difficult to handle.

Cyber crime and deep fakes

Calling cyber crimes both more widespread and more serious than before, the President said the police must do far more to make society aware of how grave such offences are, and must reorient their own approach to them. She pointed to deep-fake content as a fresh danger to people and stressed that officers have to stay a step ahead of criminals who use the latest technology.