New Delhi, January 31
After a successful and much applauded stint of the DG Assam, Gyanendra Pratap Singh, the Assam Government has handed over the charge of DG Assam to senior IPS officer Harmeet Singh, who is a face changer of Assam Police.
The government appointed Harmeet Singh as the DG of Assam Police on January 29.
An officer of the 1992 Batch of the Indian Police Service, borne on the Assam- Meghalaya Cadre, Singh is the Director General of Police, Assam, who also holds charges of Director General Civil Defence & Commandant General Home Guards and Director, Fire & Emergency Services.
Singh is a well-known in the country for the unique initiatives he designed for the Assam Police Social Media outreach - Bohemian Facstody that fished out fake news, The Think Campaign, catchy tweets, including the one on drug seizure that went viral across the world. He is a pioneer in introducing technology-based innovations and solutions for governance, both in the National Security and policing spheres.
Watch the Interview of DG Harmeet Singh as Special DG Assam on socia media and policing with BW POLICEWORLD
https://bwpoliceworld.com/video/special-dgp-assam-police-harmeet-singh-on-social-media-policing-4166
After Singh's initiative, the Assam Police started using social media, not only to inform or market the initiatives, but to ensure two-way communication. Under his leadership, the Assam Police involved music, movies, pop culture, memes and wit to reach out to the young.
One of their tweets on X (formerly Twitter) read, "Has anyone lost a huge amount (590 kilograms) of Cannabis/Ganja. Don’t panic. We found it…” fetched us over 40 lakhs likes and 10,000 retweets.
The social media cell run by Saliq Khan Tech Policy and Communication Consultant under the leadership of Harmeet Singh came up with several quirky tweets featuring many Bollywood/Hollywood stars, sports personalities, and popular movies like Gullyboy, Newton, Sacred Games and more.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that after the quirky tweets of Assam Police changed the social media game, the social media of many state police took inspiration and followed the pattern.
Assam Police is also known for an impactful campaign called, ‘Sharenting’- a campaign to sensitise parents on the perils of sharing the photos, videos and sensitive details of their children on social media that lead to identity theft, future discrimination and violation of the privacy of the children. The social meda outreach of this campaign broke the Intenet when it was launched and covered across the country and also international media for the unique thought of educating parents about social media.
Singh not only upped the game of social media for Assam Police but made social media a fine tool to connect citizens of Assam with the police directly.
Another popular initiative of Assam Police was, ‘Bohemian Factsody’ based on the popular ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ a musical drama film on Freddie Mercury. The team redesigned it to ‘Boehmian Factsody’ to give a message to the everyone who uses social media for news and entertainment that a ‘Fact check’ is essential, to reach the truth on every matter.
In an interview previously with BW POLICEWORLD, Singh had narrated what changed his thought about redesigning the social media of Assam Police.
He had mentioned that two musicians in Assam- Abhijit Nath and Nilutpal Das were battered to death in Karbi on the suspicion of them being child lifters. There were messages forwarded on What’s App that warned people against ‘Sopadhora’ (child lifter). The fake news has worst consequences and with campaign we got into the heads of the youth to fact check. Hundreds of profiles in various social media platforms were scanned and police were able to apprehend many for spreading fake news. This triggered the thought for Singh who began a campaign against fake news.
He also chairs the State Anti-Poaching Task Force. He is the founder of ‘Nagarik Mitra’, the Assam Police Smart Social Media Centre, and Shishu Mitra, a Child Friendly Policing Initiative along with UNICEF & Utsah; both multiple award-winning initiatives, conceptualised by him, which have transformed the way Police functions and interfaces with the citizens as well as how society perceives it.
Singh joined the Indian Police Service in 1992 and spent the formative years of his career in Assam till 1998, serving as ASP, Mangaldoi; SDPO, Bokakhat; ADC to the Governor of Assam and Superintendent of Police, Nagaon. From 1998 to 2017, he was with the Government of India, serving in various capacities that saw him posted at varied places, including Delhi, Gangtok in Sikkim, Moscow in Russia and Srinagar in J&K.
After his return to the Cadre, Assam, in 2017; Shri Singh has held multiple charges consecutively including Addl. DGP Security, Administration, Modernisation & Logistics, Border as well as Vigilance & Anti-Corruption, Commissioner of Police Guwahati and Spl. Director General of Police, Headquarters & Border.
Singh has specialised in Conflict Resolution, Counter Terrorism, Counter Radicalisation, Cyber Security & Infrastructure, Security & Safety Administration, Child Protection & Child Friendly Policing, Mega Event Management, Disaster/Pandemic Relief and developing Communication/Citizen Centric Interfaces.
He is a resource person and orator, who speaks regularly at educational institutions, technology entities, government institutions and multilateral organisations. He is a visiting emeritus faculty at Rashtriya Raksha University.
Singh is a highly decorated officer having received the Police Medal for Gallantry, the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service, the Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service, the Ati Utkrisht Seva Padak, the Utkrisht Seva Padak, the Antrik Seva Suraksha Padak, the Kathin Seva (Special Duty) Medal for Sikkim, the Kathin Seva (Special Duty) Medal for Jammu & Kashmir, Police Antrik Suraksha Seva Padak for North East (NE) Region, Chief Minister’s Special Service Medal for Outstanding Servicein a Crisis Situation, Assam State Disaster Response Medal, Manipur Chief Minister's Commendation, DGP J&K’s Commendation Disc (Gold), DGP Assam’s Commendation Disc (Gold) and multiple Commendations. He has also received the FICCI Smart Policing Award for creating the Smart Protection Unit, the Digital Empowerment Foundation – Social Media for Ampowerment Award for Community Mobilisation, the SKOCH Award for the Assam Police Shishu Mitra programme, the Governance Now ward also for the Assam Police Shishu Mitra programme, APAC Digital Governance Ledarship and IE Technology Sabaha Awards for Digital Empowerment and Leadership; among many others.
Born in Delhi, on the 30th of December 1968, Shri Singh received his early education till Class XII in Lucknow at the Colvin Taluqdars’ College; where he was the College Captain and topped the Intermediate (XII) Arts examination. He then graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University receiving a BA (Hons) Degree in History; after which he pursued a Masters in History from Punjab University, Chandigarh where he was awarded the Gold Medal in 1992.
A keen sportsman in his early years, a Debater and a Theatre enthusiast, he holds School Colours in Tennis, Squash and Swimming; Punjab University Colours in Debating and was Secretary of India’s oldest theatre group, the Shakespeare Society.
Singh has been a part of 26 professional theatre productions in his younger days. His current interests include restoring heritage buildings as well as architectural design. He has collaborated with some of the country’s top architects to create iconic structures.
As a people friendly officer, Harmeet Singh has been appointed by the Assam Government to enhance the police-people relationship in the state, ensure stricter border security and zero tolerance towards narcotics in the state.
