Thrissur, Thursday 05 Aug 2010: Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that the police department should be free of corruption. He was addressing a passing-out parade of the 26 (B) batch of sub-inspectors at the Kerala Police Academy in Ramavarmapuram here on Thursday.

“Police forces should not be complacent about corruption. If there are corrupt officers in the constabulary, they should not be taken as role models by new members. Society expects exemplary character and behaviour from police forces,” he added.

He said that new members of the constabulary were highly qualified and this would bring sweeping changes to the police system. “Police forces have better service conditions now. There is plenty of scope for promotions in the department.”

He said that police intelligence operations were being strengthened. “As part of structural reforms in the constabulary, intelligence collection is being given importance. The State police should equip themselves to handle serious law and order problems without the help of national security agencies.”