The Training Division of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (B.P.R.& D.) of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India thinks, yes. It is attempting to make the Indian Police, People Friendly - a task considered by many as impossible.

Much has been written and spoken about the need to effect an attitudinal change in the Police in India and to make them people friendly. The poor image of the Police, has been traced by Research studies to the failure of the police to respect the Human Rights of the People and to extend dignity and courtesy to them. A Symposium of Heads of Police Training Institutions held at Chennai recently, discussed this issue at great length and explored the possibility of using Training as a tool to effect the required attitudinal change.

To make any significant change in the attitude of the trainee, he should be young; at present the age profile of the police trainees is very high. There is thus an urgent need to reduce the entry age for police recruits. As attitude is an expressed behaviour born out of exposure to organisational environment, to save the trainees from the ‘Trauma of Training’ and to prevent them from carrying unpleasant and anti-people psychological traits when they leave the Training Institutions, there is need to create congenial living and working atmosphere at the Police Training institutions. It is a sad fact , that at present, most of the Police Training institutions lack even the elementary facilities and the living conditions of Trainees are abominable. The Faculty and the Instructors sent to the Training Institutions are often of a very low calibre and they lack motivation due to lack of economic incentives and organisational recognition. Training infrastructure is non-existent in many institutions .

It is necessary for the Government of India to make more financial resources available to Police Training Institutions in the Country. A special ‘Training Facilities Fund ‘should be created and the grants from this should be directly provided to these institutions. The quantum of assistance should be directly linked to their performance, which should be monitored by the B.P.R.&D.

The Training Division of the B.P.R.&D., is attempting a quiet revolution through an unique experiment to realise the impossible - of making the Police of India people friendly. Christened as the ‘Change Agent Project’, this experiment, which is currently being carried out in nine Police Stations of three States, is based on the conviction, that if we give the required infrastructural facilities to perform their duties and proper motivation to be people friendly, Police will change. Results obtained so far have been very encouraging.

Few cutting edge level personnel up to the rank of Inspectors from these selected Police Stations were required to personally ‘experience’ the treatment people receive at the Police Stations. This experience shocked them and opened their eyes to ground realities and made them understand that the Public complaints about Police misbehaviour is not part of an orchestrated campaign to villify the Police. Having learnt this bitter truth, these personnel were made to suggest practical ways and means for providing better service to the People. These suggestions were discussed in group meetings and with the addition of some theoretical inputs, were operationalised. These personnel, then went back to their places of work to put their ideas into operation. Infrastructural facilities in these Police Stations were marginally upgraded. Among the many obstacles these personnel faced, was the resistance of peers due to ‘organisational sub-culture’. These ‘Change Agents’ worked with single minded devotion and brought about qualitative changes in their work environment. Preliminary evaluation shows that the Public in these nine Police Stations also appreciate the change in Police behaviour and these ‘Change Agents’ have been accepted by their peers as someone trying to improve their work environment for the better. These personnel were also sent to United Kingdom and Singapore to study the methods of work of Police there, which make them People friendly in their Countries.

Cynics may aver that a single swallow does not make a summer. In a vast country like ours, the results obtained in this experiment in nine police stations may not appear very impressive. The lesson starkly brought out by this experiment is that Police can become people friendly, if we make a positive effort towards that direction. The basic question is do we want an efficient and people friendly Police? The quality of life of the Citizens in a Democracy, to a great extent depends on the quality of Police Service it has. Political leadership owes it to the People to give them a quality Police Service. Without Peace and Tranquillity in the Society, no development can take place. We need an efficient and people friendly Police Service to ensure this.

Government of India can no more remain a silent spectator and allow Police Service to deteriorate on the plea that Police is a State Subject. The money spent on Police Training rightfully comes under Human Resources Development, which is the charge of the Union Government. Let us march into the 21st Century with a people friendly Police. B.P.R.&D. deserves all encouragement, support and assistance in extending this experiment Country wide to bring about the desired attitudinal change in the Police.

It is a sad fact that the British, when they introduced the famous Peel’s New Police for England thought it fit not to introduce the same in this country. They wanted a Police, which will be anti-people and pro-imperialist in out look and organised and structured the same in India in such a way that it remained reactionary and anti-people. The Police Act of 1961, under which the police function even today, provide them with a negative role, basically that of ‘establishment protection’.

Freedom from the British rule did not alter the situation any better. Former law breakers became law givers and they knew the awesome power of police to extract obedience from the people and were content to exploit police for political ends. Politician-Criminal-Police nexus became a reality to seize and control political power and to keep the have-nots in subjugation. Whenever protests were made, they were put down ruthlessly under the garb of maintenance of order. As people became more and more aware of their rights and demanded the same, the threatened political elite gave more and more powers to Police to put down such defiance. Human Rights became a casualty.

Added to this, a sluggish Judiciary, due to enormous delays in courts and with its nexus with unscrupulous lawyers, made people lose faith in the majesty of Law and the Rule of Law became a fashionable talking point in Academic circles.

In this country of lack of unanimity on any national issue, everyone agrees that all is not well with the police and police reforms are to be initiated without further delay. The recommendations of Police Commission of 1977, which are by no means revolutionary, are gathering dust and even the Public Interest Litigations have failed to make the sluggish government to act. Police Reforms should be taken as an all Party National issue and the Prime Minister should convene an All India Conference of Chief Ministers, Political Parties, eminent Jurists, Academicians and former Police Officers and the agenda should be the recommendations of the National Police Commission of 1977. Happily, the members of the National Police Commission of 1977 are still with us and they should be invited to explain to the conference the rationale of their recommendations.

The conference should also decide on some of the basic issues namely: (a) Definition of the Role of Police in India; (b) Repeal of Police Act of 1861 to give primacy to the citizen and not to the State; (c) Police Accountability; (d) New Command and Control Structure for better performance, (e) Demilitarisation of Police; (f) Decentralisation of Police and peoples involvement in setting Police Goals and Priorities; and (g) Steps to improve the quality of Police personnel and bringing about an attitudinal change in them.

The role of Police in India should be to protect the lives and properties of the citizens and to enable them to enjoy all the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India. In this task, they shall be solely guided by the Law and they shall not carry out any orders or instructions which run counter to this.

The Police Act of 1861 should be repealed and replaced by a new Act. The Police Commission of 1977 has suggested the Draft of the New Act, which could be the starting point for consideration of new measures. In the new Act, supremacy of the Rule of Law should be clearly spelt out and Police should be guided by the law of the land only and they shall have the legal option to disregard all instructions running contrary to Law. The administration and superintendence of the Police Force should remain exclusively under Professional Police Supervisors. It should be made clear in the new Act, that the Police exist for the Service of the Citizens. The Ethos of the Police Force should be shifted from ‘Enforcement’ to ‘Enablement’. Police should play an active role in the implementation of the Social Legislations. The endeavour should be to make the Police man a Social worker in Uniform.

As the primary law enforcement agency, the Police should be accountable to Law. Police Functions can be broadly divided into three areas: (1) Prevention and Detection of Crime : an area which is exclusively controlled by the Law of the land. In this area, police should be accountable to Law Courts only. (2) Maintenance of Order, Traffic Regulation and other regulatory functions : in this area Police should be answerable to legislature through the State Security Commission suggested by the National Police Commission of 1977; and (3) Implementation of Social Legislation : in this area, Police should be accountable to Statutory bodies created for the purpose. It is necessary to ‘de-criminalise’ many of the social legislation for effective implementation. In these three areas Police should work in distinct wings, without mixing their roles.

The Crime Police, entrusted with the task of prevention and detection of Crime, should be controlled and directed by a District Judge. From the time the FIR is issued, day to day investigation and their legality should be monitored by designated Judicial Officers. This is on the analogy of the practice in Italy. Needless to say that once the case is placed before the court, the case will be heard and decided by a Judicial Officer, who will not be involved in day to day supervisory work. The Crime Police should work in civilian clothes.

The Order Police, which will be organised on the same lines as of today, will work under the District Superintendent of Police and will be controlled and supervised by the State Security Commission. This wing will work in Uniform.

The Social Legislation Enforcement Police will work under a Police Officer designated as District Social Welfare Officer. Personnel under him will enforce the social legislation and put up the cases before specially designated courts and Statutory authorities for adjudication. They will work in civilian clothes.

Police think and act as though they are Fighting Forces. This is a throw back from the British times. The role of Army is to gain victory at all costs including human lives, whereas the ethos of Police is to save lives and bring peace at all costs. It is time we demilitarised Civil Police Setup through out the country. Police should shed all military trappings and become a civil force.

There is over centralisation in Police with the result the goals and objectives adopted by the police have no relevance to local people. There should be complete decentralisation and functional autonomy to Police from Station House level onwards and their goals and objectives are to be set with the cooperation and consultation of the local population. A properly structured and representative body of local residents should be associated with setting priorities and goals.

The Law provides awesome powers to a policeman. To exercise them, one needs certain perspectives, values and ideals in life. When we pay a Police constable, the wages of an unskilled worker, we should expect only the reaction of an unskilled worker from him and not that of a Sherlock Holmes or a Priest. The standards prescribed for recruitment, training, emoluments for the Police etc. need radical revision. Unless we provide the policemen with decent emoluments, living conditions and work atmosphere, we cannot expect him to act in an egalitarian manner without misusing his powers. The Police leadership is also at great fault in this area. They seem to insist on quantity and not on quality. It is better to have half a dozen officers of the rank of a sub-inspector in a police station to prevent and detect crime than to have 25 semi-literate and ill paid constables. It is necessary for the Universities to start Academic Programmes in Police Sciences so that those aspiring to join police forces, qualify themselves before they enter the service. As for attitudinal change, we should catch them young and the recruitment should be based on merit and not on any other consideration of caste etc. Institutional training should be at least for a period of two years to enable the faculty to implant ethical principles in the trainees.

Police have waited long enough for the Political Powers to initiate the moves to bring about a change. It is time the Police acted to effect the change. We are not suggesting anything revolutionary. All that the Police have to do is, to follow the teachings of the Father of the Nation.

If Policemen all over the country follow these four principles, Public will rally behind them and force the Political authorities to effect the much needed reforms in Police Organisation.