Democracy assures its citizens certain basic freedoms and rights to Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. A liberal Democracy is characterised by its representative character, accountability to the people and its concern for the Welfare of the people. It assures the citizens:

Democracies stand on the twin concepts of Rule of Law and Human Rights. While the Rule of Law assures equality before Law, equal application of Law and equal protection of the Law without discrimination of any sorts, Human Rights assure dignity to the individual.

Basic freedoms in a Democracy are : freedom of thought and expression; freedom to elect the government in a Free and Fair elections; the right to vote for all eligible citizens, the freedom of peaceful assembly and association and the freedom to follow any profession or avocation to realise one's full potential. None of these can be enjoyed if peace and harmony and crime free ambience do not prevail in society. Law subject to the fact that they do not affect the morals and public order and to the restrictions places all these freedoms. As the primary and principal Law Enforcement Agency, Police ensure that the limitations placed by the Law are observed. The objectivity and the character of enforcement would largely determine, whether the society is 'free' or not. The ethos of the police organisation and the attitude of individual policeman would ultimately determine the quality of enforcement.

Rule of Law becomes an empty phrase, if the affected citizen does not have recourse to legal remedies. As the ubiquitous service organisation , which is omnipresent, the police are accessible to the citizens round the clock throughout the year. A Police Station or a precinct can be compared to a hospital. People visit both only when they are in dire need of help. People expect immediate relief at these places and from the personnel, sympathy, empathy and compassion.

An ethical and lawful policeman symbolises all that is good in a Democracy. He is the initiator and the gatekeeper of the portals of mighty Criminal Justice System. Law is set in motion in favour of a citizen only when the Police initiate it. Jerome Hall (1953) observes that a policeman, who conforms to law in the living embodiment of law; he is its microcosm at the level of its most specific incidence. He is literally law in action, for in action, law must be specific. He is the concrete distillation of the entire majesty of the Corpus Juris, representing all of it including the constitution itself.

Functions of the Police in a Democracy are highly complex. It is not confined to only maintenance of order or prevention and detection of crime. Enforcement of Social Legislation aimed at alleviation of misery of the under privileged, does not fall under either of the categories. Police are expected by the people to provide services to the community far beyond law enforcement. While their role in the Criminal Justice System is well defined and structured and regulated by law and judicial decisions, the community service role has no such benefits. Since the people expect them to perform community service and there is no specified legal authority, police often use the powers bestowed on them by Law for Crime fighting and order maintenance purposes. This 'deviation' is to be determined by the policeman based on his moral and ethical fibre. Thus, the attitude of policeman to society and his own role plays an important part in determining whether people benefit from the community services rendered by the police. The role of community service has now taken precedence over all other police activities in Democracies. The first duty of the Law enforcer in modern times is to serve the mankind and observe human rights.

This paradigm shift in the role of police has made it necessary for policemen to change attitudes towards their work and the public, which often go against the organisational culture of strict enforcement at all human costs. The police now are making their decisions not on the basis of enforcement but on the impact of their action on communities. Police find that total law enforcement is a great inconvenience and enforcement is only a means but not an end by itself. In their experience, they have found that there are situations, when non-enforcement of certain laws or regulations may actually contribute to the peace and tranquility of the community.

This paradigm shift in the ethos of Police from 'Enforcement' to 'Enablement' has made policemen 'Social Workers in Uniform'. It is unfortunate that neither the Laws, nor the society nor the police organisation has taken serious notice of the changed role and provided the policeman with required legal tools and regulations. The individual policeman is left to make decisions on his own, depending on his attitude towards a particular issue based on his ethical and moral strengths. Thus, the chasm between public expectations and police performance widens day by day. Consequently, police image suffers and people withhold their cooperation to police.

To remedy the situation, we need to change the ethos of Police organisation from Enforcement to Enablement. The organisational culture should change its focus from achievement of ends with dubious means to concentrate on ethical means. The principles of natural justice, Human Rights and the adherence to Rule of Law should be organisationally stressed. The touchstone of success for a Police Department should be the level of Public Satisfaction and not clearance and conviction rates.

For an individual policeman both at pre and post induction stages attitudes emphasising the need to be ethical and lawful, primacy of community service, the importance and the need for observance of human rights and the need to follow principles of Rule of Law and Natural Justice while exercising their coercive jurisdiction, are to be taught.

Police organisations should change their Human Resources Development strategy from 'Skills Development' to 'Character Development'. The 21^st Century beckons the Police Organisations to break their shackles of mindset of the past and work towards the creation of just and equitable society.