We need police service, not police force in India
The urge to write this piece came from a recent personal experience while standing in a queue in front of a bank, courtesy demonetisation. The queue was long and the wait endless. People were turning restless and many attempted to enter the bank by jostling their way and breaking the queue.
After it occurred a couple of times, I asked the police constable on duty to control the crowd and bring order. He mumbled something but did not take any action. Upon insisting, he quietly slipped away.
When the crowd became more rowdy, I called up the police control room, which promptly sent a couple of personnel to the scene.
One of them (with a big fat belly of 78 inches or so it seemed) aggressively shouted, “Kon baar baar control room mein phone kar raha hain?”
I replied that I had called up and asked him to control the crowd. I also asked him to talk properly. The constable, taken aback at the firmness of my response, mellowed out a little and started focusing on the task that he was required to do in the first place.
A little later he and another constable were seen going inside the bank repeatedly to bring out money and hand it over to someone or the other in the queue — whether for a consideration, I am not sure.
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| Unfortunately, training perhaps is the most neglected field in policing. [Photo: Indiatoday.in] |
Thus, three different facets of the functioning of the police were on display within a short period. The first displayed absolute timidity and dereliction of duty. The second — something that a lot of us have experienced at one point or the other in our life — that of a bully ever ready to misuse the authority conferred on him by the uniform. The third was of an individual always ready to connive with favour-seekers.
This to my mind is a reflection of the anomalous functioning of the entire police system in most parts of our country.
Eminent police officers have waged a prolonged battle for police reforms. Reforms to end political interference in police functioning are important. It is also important that state governments take urgent steps to overcome the problem of man power in the department and provide adequate resources. However, the top brass fails to remedy these basic flaws in police functioning even though these are well within its sphere of influence, thereby leading to aberrant behaviour as described above. Perhaps it is more convenient to keep flogging the horse of police reforms and shift the responsibility to their political masters.
The most important area that needs urgent reform is the recruitment system. A matric pass young man qualifies certain simple physical tests, an elementary written paper and gets enrolled as a police constable. While those tests are essential, it is important to introduce psychological screening of the persons selected, to assess their suitability for the type of public dealing required of them to perform their duties. Whether he is capable of taking the pressures of a high stress job?
These are the aspects entirely within the realm of police leadership and they should take lead to bring in reforms.
The recruitment system also doesn’t assess the IQ of the aspirants. It must be appreciated that policing requires a lot of application of mind whether for crime investigation or for invoking relevant sections of the law while registering a complaint. Only a person with a good IQ level shall be able to comprehend these aspects well during training and apply them properly while on duty.
Developing soft skills among policemen during training needs special focus. It will be even more appropriate if a methodology to assess that at the recruitment stage itself is evolved. The CISF has evolved a well-conceived curriculum for developing soft skills, and as a result of that one always finds CISF personnel behaving well in general.
Unfortunately, training perhaps is the most neglected field in policing. Postings to police training institutions are generally considered punishment and either the most incompetent or corrupt personnel are sent there.
During the DGPs conference in Guwahati in 2014, the prime minister had emphasised on “smart policing”. A lot of funds are also allotted for police modernisation. However, the modernisation and smart policing generally starts and ends with acquisition of better vehicles and gadgets.
The police leadership would do well to invest these funds in developing training infrastructure, hiring experts to properly analyse training needs and devise better training methodology. Investment in improving living and working conditions of policemen, which are abysmal and therefore add to stress, will go a long way in alleviating their difficulties.
The ills in our policing system are rooted in the structure (inherited from the British) and need to be rectified. Our police need to be transformed from the “police force” that the British created for Indians to a “police service”, which they had in their own country.
It is only then that the police’s image will see a makeover.