Open Forum
New
Delhi, 8 January 2013
Policing The Police
COMMUNITY SHARING CRUCIAL
By Dr. S.Saraswathi
The demand for the ouster of the
Police Commissioner of Delhi by protestors and
some political parties after the gang-rape incident in the heart of the
nation’s capital has done a great service in drawing the country’s attention to
the urgency for reforming the police system and organization in India. In this
incident, there is not only failure in preventing the crime, but a number of
lapses in the enforcement of
prescribed rules governing private vehicles, public transport, drivers,
etc., due to total systemic failure that cannot be attributed to any particular official.
Police is an instrument of the
State, and its power is the most important feature distinguishing the State
from other associations in a society. However, the modern State is not a police
State, but a welfare one where institutions and instruments are created and
used for the good of the people. The police is one such institution with
enormous powers to help both the Government and the people to carry on a peaceful
and orderly life.
Therefore, a basic principle
governing the police organization is that it should play its role as envisaged
in the system, discharge its functions and responsibilities without fear or
favour, and adhere to the mandate given to it by law. While it should not apply
its coercive power arbitrarily, it should not also remain helplessly inactive
when a situation demands immediate action to save life and property in danger.
Citizens expect the police to be effective, humane, and responsive in all
situations.
Today, a strong opinion is expressed
from many quarters that all-round reforms are needed in the police system and
functioning touching both theory and practice. Created in the mid-19th
century by the British Government, the Indian police organization has undergone
some reforms from time to time but not to the extent needed or sought.
Changing socio-political conditions
and development and adoption of new rights and philosophies necessitate changes
in the role and strategies of the police. Criminology has changed a lot,
introducing new perceptions on crime and punishment. The training of the police
personnel has to change accordingly.
Instances of police brutalities and
custodial violence, and cases of police-criminals nexus are increasingly
reported in the media, and have become almost regular column and feature. In India, perhaps
due to the image created in the colonial days, the police is unfortunately
never treated as “friends of the public”, but as a monster to frighten children
and make them obey.
While efforts are needed to change
the negative image of the police, the idea of community policing is now and
then mooted as a way of promoting people-police collaboration for better crime
prevention. Way back in 2003, the Bureau of Police Research and Development had
recommended the creation of “community policing” as a part of normal
policing.
In the present context of growing
cases of atrocities against women, it may be useful to turn to the support of
the public in crime prevention and apprehension of criminals.
The idea of community policing
system became popular in the US
since the 80s and has been adopted in Latin American countries. It is an attractive reformatory concept of
policing in conformity with the current participatory approach in governance.
But, the western system cannot be transplanted wholesale as our needs and
purposes and more than that, our preparedness are different. We have to create an Indian model suited to
our facilities and conditions.
First of all, community policing is
a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that use police-public
partnership in policing and adopts problem-solving techniques to address ground
situations that give rise to crimes and threaten public safety. In the present
Indian conditions, even when the police at the lower levels need to be educated
on law, rights, and justice, such a partnership may not be feasible or
desirable in many areas.
However, this philosophy, which
shifts emphasis from statistics to problems, may be adopted to the extent that
crimes are to be treated not in isolation and as incidents, but one in which
they occur, and crime prevention should address the problems behind the
crimes. This aspect of crime prevention
can be efficacious if public participation is available to provide the inputs
necessary to police functioning.
The mode of public participation is
not to be restricted to individual participation though it is not ruled out.
Police can obtain vast information from groups and organisations including
schools, hospitals, temples and other places of worship, commercial places,
etc., which attract people with different background. Systematic collection of
data about an area and its residents and constant updating can be an essential
part of community policing. This will increase police-public contact and
communication and lessen routine bureaucratic notings within the police
hierarchy.
This strategy is likely to transform
policing which is presently a reactive force into a proactive one of
problem-solving service. Crimes such as
drug addiction, female foeticide and infanticide, molestation of women,
domestic violence, child labour, bonded labour, possession of bogus ration
cards etc., can be better tackled in partnership with the residents of the area
of crime.
In India, as revealed in several
incidents, there is need to protect the public from police excesses and
brutalities on the streets and inside police stations. For policing the police,
and checking police inaction, delay and unfriendly behaviour, there cannot be a
better instrument than people themselves. The primary responsibility of
community policing, if it were to emerge in an organised form, will be
safeguarding the rights of the public, and preventing the degeneration of law and order in the course
of maintaining order by force.
To discharge these responsibilities,
there must be a mechanism for police-public interaction in a spirit of
cooperation and positive approach. A
permanent mechanism can conduct discussions and find solutions better than ad
hoc committees set up in a crisis situation when matters go out of control.
A few experiments of community
policing modeled on the concept of Neighbourhood Watch in the US are going on in various States in India under
different names. The Friends of Police in Tamil Nadu, Prahari in Assam, Maithri
in Andhra Pradesh, Mohalla Committees in Mumbai, Gram Raksha Samitis and Nagar
Raksha Samitis in Madhya Pradesh are some models of community police. Helpline
for children, and women in distress are operating throughout the country and
have to be encouraged, for they can address the root causes of problems that
lead to delinquency, disorder, and destitution.
Faith in community policing stems
from a belief in the integrity and fair-mindedness, common sense, and mature
ethical principles held by common people. But, political party politics and
caste and religious attachments can undo whatever people can achieve without
affiliations. In our country, there are
reports of cases of political leaders presiding over mass child marriages,
secretly extending support to sati worship and caste segregation, and actively
inciting communal clashes while the police remain passive observers.
In several States, the police has
become the tool of the ruling party blatantly used and misused to favour
lawlessness of allies and victimise opponents. Community policing must keep
away from politics and party attachments.
As VR Krishna Aiyar once observed,
human rights will be in peril if we do not humanise the police and
institutionalise a system to police the police. It may be worthwhile to promote
public participation in policing.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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