Leader urges more police coordination

The Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Opressed People says the police have a “delicate,” yet important and grave task in the society, urging coordination between the force and the Interior Ministry.

“The police must maintain a compassionate and friendly relationship with the public, while upholding their authority — the two features are inseparable,” Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar and high-ranking police commanders and law enforcement officers in Tehran on Sunday.

He said that the simultaneous maintenance of the two features requires “consideration and planning.”

Imam Ali Khamenei also urged “coordination between the police, the Interior Ministry and other relevant bodies — especially the Supreme National Security Council” to achieve success in police activities.

The Leader pointed to “bitter” events that followed last year’s presidential election, and said “the Iranian nation, by God’s grace, managed to overcome the seditious hands.”

“In every field in which relevant bodies have acted with coordination and vigilance, good results have been achieved,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

He noted that the police force’s main responsibility is to fight corruption including disorder, riot, smuggling, robbery, insecurity and narcotics.

“The essential prerequisite for a crackdown on corruption is to have no corruption — even at the slighted levels — in the body which fights corruption,” he said.

Imam Ali Khamenei stressed that the police should be able to spot criminals, who live among civilians, and deal with them “without causing other citizens any harm.”

The Leader recommended the police to adopt an “appropriate, correct and friendly” attitude towards the nation and said, “It is necessary to maintain police authority in the public eye, while at the same time respecting the people.”