Reports of Custodial Deaths; Custodial Rapes; use of Third Degree and brutal violence against the under privileged sections of Society; and rude and discourteous behaviour with the Public by the Police, appear with sickening regularity in the Press. Latest news are the brutal treatment meted out to Minorities and the demonstration of indiscipline by the police of Karimnagar District in going on a rampage and destroying public property protesting against the transfer of the S.P. and the theft of Motor Vehicles indulged in by some Reserve Police Personnel in Andhra Pradesh. People wonder whether it will ever be possible for the Police in India to change their anti-people behaviour. The reasons for police misbehavior are many.

Police is a service dedicated to the protection of Life, Liberty and Property of the People. It is the battling arm of the society against the criminals and lawless elements. Police cannot perform their duties without the cooperation of the People. A liberal democracy stands for freedom, dignity, respect for Human Rights, respecting the privacy of the individuals and the Primacy of Rule of Law and equal treatment of all by the law enforcement agencies. Police operations entail restraint on individual freedom, intrusion on privacy, use of force to ensure compliance with law and greater emphasis on maintenance of authority. These differing perceptions generate conflict between the police and the public.

Further, while people perceive the role of police as an all pervasive one from decimating terrorists and delivering babies, policemen assume that their role is to fight criminality only. Thus, there is conflict in the perception of police role among the people and police. Individual Policeman believes that the State has given him the authority to lord over the people and he is neither accountable nor answerable to anyone except the departmental hierarchy.

Unfortunately, the goals set for the Police under the Police Act of 1861 emphasises on the role of police as an establishment protection machinery and speaks very little of their duties towards the public and the role of policeman as a social worker in uniform. Under this mandate, police seldom consult the people about their needs and their operations are generally in aid of the existing power structure and often the genuine needs of the people remain unattended by the police. Classic example is the deployment of large police personnel for protection of the so called VIPs to the detriment of crime prevention work like deployment of patrols.

Police, often, by adopting defective strategies in their operations also antagonise people. Basic strategies of Police operations are: Visibility; Counseling; Education and Apprehension. Visibility is ensured by Policemen on Patrol, movement of Police control room vehicles etc. which have a deterrent effect on Criminals and have an important role in crime prevention. They also assure the people of their safety through the presence of policemen in their area. Counseling aims at teaching the citizen to respect Law and to follow the path of voluntary compliance with the same. This has a salutary effect while dealing with volatile groups like organised labour, students and juveniles. Often counseling prevents use of force by the police. Education aims at keeping the people informed the norms of the society and law and giving them the dos and don’ts. The much lauded London Bobby adopts these three strategies. He is always available to the People, guides them, and reaches out to the Community through proactive measures of assistance. In his scheme of things arresting a person-apprehension, comes the last. Unfortunately in India, Police concentrate only on apprehension-arresting and marching off the citizen to the Police Station and confining him in the lock-up, either officially or off the record.

Ethos of the Police Department also lays stress on Enforcement and not on Enablement. The Policemen look at the law from the angle of enforcement only as to what are his powers and seldom from the angle of enabling the People to enjoy their rights and privileges guaranteed under the constitution. Consequently, in the scheme of things outlined above, the need to win public confidence gets very low priority in Policeman’s psyche.

To make the Police people friendly, it is essential to take the following steps:

Police service is to be made a specialisation requiring certain minimum standards of Pre-entry educational preparation, desirable Psychological traits and demonstrated willingness to serve the people. The present system of all and sundry getting into Police service on the basis of minimum physical and educational qualifications should stop. People should demonstrate their willingness to make police as their life long career by acquiring the needed qualifications as any other entrants to organised professions like Medicine, Law etc. do.

Police is at present organised on the pattern of a military organisation resulting in the organisation acquiring the ethos of a fighting force. While the objective of a fighting force is to gain victory at all costs, the objective of a civilian organisation like Police should be peace and friendliness at all costs. Civil Police should shed all the resemblance to Military or Para-military organisations and should be decentralised. It should set its goals and objectives in consultation with the public and an institutional mechanism should be set up to constantly monitor Police functioning.

To take prompt action on complaints of Police excesses and misbehaviour a Police Complaints Boards should be set up in each of the Districts consisting of representatives of the public.

Police organisations should lay emphasis on the means rather than on ends and insist on ethical functioning of the Force. Similarly, the organisation should insist on lawful methods and procedures and eschew illegalities.

If we are to bring about an attitudinal change in Policemen, we should recruit young persons to the service and give them sufficiently long exposure to egalitarian principles in institutional setting. At present in many of the States Police personnel are taken into the Force at the ripe age of over thirty. It can be seen at this age, ideas and attitudes are well set, and no amount of training will change their mind-set.

It is unfortunately true that the working conditions of Policemen are abominable and they are the lowest paid employees in the State. Scant respect is given to them both in the State hierarchy and by the Society. Unless the Human Rights of Policemen are ensured and they are given their basic dignity, their attitude to the society will be one of hostility and indifferent. It is true that the Policemen will get better respect and treatment from the society only when they change their methods of work and become people friendly, it should be realised that to achieve positive results, action start at both sides.

(The author is a former Director General of C.R.P.F and N.S.G.)