OAPS, OPS caught in a row over acronyms

  • | Friday | 21st July, 2017

"During the recent Rath Yatra, the Puri SP deputed a senior OAPS officer to supervise the work of OPS officers. OPS officers are raising a non-issue." Why don't the armed cadre officers use OAPS in their shoulder badges?" BHUBANESWAR: Officers of two cadres of the Odisha Police - Odisha Armed Police Service OAPS ) and Odisha Police Service (OPS) - are locked in a tussle over the acronyms on their uniforms.OPS personnel, who are recruited for duty in police stations, alleged the armed police officers have been using OPS on their shoulder badges instead of writing OAPS. "In our petition to the CM we categorically wrote that the use of OPS by many armed cadre police officers on their shoulder badges amounts to cheating and impersonation.

BHUBANESWAR: Officers of two cadres of the Odisha Police - Odisha Armed Police Service OAPS ) and Odisha Police Service (OPS) - are locked in a tussle over the acronyms on their uniforms.OPS personnel, who are recruited for duty in police stations, alleged the armed police officers have been using OPS on their shoulder badges instead of writing OAPS. The armed police officers are deployed only in battalions and district police reserves.The tug-of-war between the two security agencies of the state police has reached chief minister Naveen Patnaik 's door after the Odisha Police Association (OPA), an elected body of police officers, recently lodged a complaint with him."In our petition to the CM we categorically wrote that the use of OPS by many armed cadre police officers on their shoulder badges amounts to cheating and impersonation. We have separate rules for recruitment of general police and armed police. Why don't the armed cadre officers use OAPS in their shoulder badges?" asked OPA president Satyajit Mishra.Two different cadre rules named as the Odisha Police Service (method of recruitment & conditions of service) Rule, 2013, and the Odisha Armed Police Service (method of recruitment & conditions of service) Rule, 2013, were framed and published in the Odisha Gazette in August 2013.In the petition, OPA said the functioning of the officers in police stations should not be supervised by officers of armed police cadre. "During the recent Rath Yatra, the Puri SP deputed a senior OAPS officer to supervise the work of OPS officers. It is an insult to us as our ranks are different from theirs," Mishra said."We found that in many cases the assistant commandants, deputy commandants and commandants are using OPS badge and not mentioning their rank in the nametags. They are posing themselves as deputy superintendent of police, additional SP and SP before the public while performing duty. Such impersonation is a criminal act and punishable under Sections 419/420 of the IPC," the petition read.Defending their stand, a senior OAPS officer said: "Since we are part of the Odisha Police, we have every right to use OPS tag on our uniforms. OPS officers are raising a non-issue."

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