Daijiworld Media Network - Bhatkal (SP) 

Bhatkal, Aug 2: Valentine D'Souza, who is currently posted here as deputy superintendent of police (DySP) and who is among four senior police officers with distinguished service to their credit chosen for the President's Police Medal, was conferred with this honour on Wednesday July 31 at a ceremony organized at the Raj Bhavan here. 

State additional director general of police, Dr M S Parashivamurthy provided details of the police officers who have won the medals. The other recipients of this medal happen to be Uday Nayak, Vinay A Gaonkar, and Sudhir Hegde. 

Valentine D'Souza was born on March 6, 1964 as the son of late Francis D'Souza and Flora D'Souza in Sagar of Shivamogga district. He completed his education in Sagar itself.

Valentine D'Souza had joined the police service in the capacity of sub-inspector in 1994. He completed his probationary period in Mangaluru rural police station. In the year 2000, he was transferred to Honnavar police station. During his posting at Honnavar, Valentine solved the shortage of toilets suffered by the police and was appreciated by the police and the public alike for his initiative. During his posting to Bhatkal in 2001, he saw to it that an auditorium for installing Lord Ganesha idol on the occasion of Ganesha Chaturthi was built. 

On promotion, he continued his people-friendly initiatives during his postings at Udupi, Bantwal, DCRB Chikkamagaluru, Kundapur, Panambur, Karkala and CCB Mangaluru. During his term at Panambur, he succeeded in bringing to book several people who were planning to start communal disturbances. When working in Karkala, he reined in the naxal menace through combing operations. 

As DySP he worked in CCRB Mangaluru. He was posted here on March 12, 2018 and successfully handled traffic problems by enforcing one side parking, one way riding and no parking rules. He has been taking active part in spreading legal awareness among students. 

Valentine is an acclaimed international body builder too with a large number of medals. He had won gold medals in Mysuru University from 1997 to 1999. He has won numerous awards for body building and many more for social service activities.

Achievements of Valentine D'Souza

In a complaint that was registered in Panambur police station of keeping a severed head of an animal in a prayer center at Jokatte, Valentine D'Souza kept the severed head of the animal in his vehicle, traced the place where the animal was bought and prevented flare up of communal violence.

Valentine arrested 27 accomplices of the dreaded underworld don Vicky alias Balakrishna Shetty and recovered three pistols and 12 rounds of live ammunition. He was instrumental in solving the Kartik Raja murder, which occurred under Konaje police station limits that shook the entire city of Mangaluru.

Valentine has visited many youth organizations and sports clubs and has advised the youth about the importance of sports and keeping away from bad habits. He has stressed on the importance of being in sports to keep away from any kind of abuse.

After he assumed the authority of Bhatkal sub-division there were assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections that took place. Not a single untoward incident was reported during the campaigning or polling during these elections. His role in maintaining excellent communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims is appreciated by one and all.

Valentine has won many accolades for his achievement in the sport of body building. He has won Sri Durga award in 1987, Sri Shivappa Naika award in 1988, Sri Pulakeshi award in 1988, won open state gold medal for three consecutive years from 1988 to 1990 and Bharath Kishore All India award in 1991. He got selected to compete in the world level body building competition after competing in the body building competition at Philippines. He was conferred with 'Malnad Kreeda Rathna' title in 2016 at Sagar. He also competed in the body building competition that took place in November 2017 at Las Vegas in USA and entered the final round.

Valentine has received Udupi district Karnataka Rajyotsava award in 2008, chief minister’s gold medal in 2009, Upadhyaya Sanmana award from Pejawar Swamiji in 2017.