New Delhi: Observing that police-public ratio in India was "very disappointing", Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Thursday said that there was need for synergy between public and private security and announced that there will be a new law on private detective agencies. "We will have a new law on private detective agencies. It will not be meant for regulating them through law, but to encourage them and make them more dependable," he said inaugurating a seminar in New Delhi on private security. Patil said that a law was already in place for private security agencies and sought to allay the apprehension that it was to curb their activities. "The law is to encourage them. The idea is to have as many private security agencies as possible. But, the only thing is that they should be reliable," he said and assured them that "there shall be no difficulty".

The Home Minister said there were only 12,000 police stations in the country for 8.5 lakh villages, towns and cities and it was not possible for the police to provide security to everybody. "The police-public ratio is very disappointing," he said and suggested reviving the old system of having 'kotwal (village elder)' who can play an important role in peace committees and pass on vital information to police.

Patil said that the five million personnel in private security agencies could shoulder the burden of the police. "Private security agencies can become very powerful if there is synergy between them and the police," he said. He cited the instance of fishermen along the Gujarat coastline being used to gather intelligence.(PTI)