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Policing an Anomic Society: Need for Phase-II Reforms

Saumitra Mohan
Additional District Magistrate, Hooghly, West Bengal
e-mail: saumitra_mohan@hotmail.com

The police organization has recently undergone a makeover across the country in keeping with the directions of the Supreme Court. Accordingly, police appointment and tenure are to be subject to an Establishment Board rather than to the whims and fancies of the political class. A State Security Commission and a Police Complaints Board have also been commissioned in many states. But, their functioning over the past few months does not inspire much confidence in the reforms affected with so much of tom-tomming.

Be it the spate of naxal attacks, terrorist violence or instances of police brutality across the country, the police appear to be caught on the wrong foot. Reforms or no reforms, police continue to function in the same way as in the pre-reforms period. While the purpose of all these reformative measures was to ensure more functional autonomy, the same continues to elude the police. It is widely felt that the way our police is presently organised is eminently unsuited for the requirements of a liberal democracy. They function today in a highly authoritarian way informed by a feudal mindset and without any sense of service towards the people. At least, this is the popular perception of the police and this is definitely something very uncharacteristic of a democracy.

The occurrence of numerous incidents in recent times has resulted in fingers being pointed at the way our police function. The police have found themselves in the dock for the manner in which they have responded to crisis-like situations or to the various law and order problems. After all, how do you explain the fact that even today a common man finds it difficult to lodge an FIR? The fact remains that the acceptance of an FIR is often subject to many considerations and is accepted only after a few palms are greased. Even after one succeeds in lodging an FIR, one has to again cool one's heel for aeons before some action is taken.

It is this pathology of the system which has led to the recrudescence of popular violence vis-à-vis petty crimes and criminals as seen recently. Today, a society desperate for security of life and property finds itself helpless enough to dabble in uncivilized ways of dispensing quick justice. The very fact that certain members of our civil society feel encouraged to take the law into their own hands points to their belief of escaping the mythical long arm of the law. Public beatings and shaving of two jawans in Jammu and Kashmir for an alleged rape attempt, the beating and dragging of a chain-snatcher by the police on the roads of Bhagalpur, lynching of eleven petty thieves to death in Vaishali, beating up a local goon for alleged eve-teasing and harassment by local women in Pune, ration riots in West Bengal and numerous other such instances point to the increasing penchant of people to take the law in their own hands which definitely has something to do with the way our police function.

Earlier, the standard method of police managing a law and order crisis was to tackle the problem with an iron-hand, but now with human rights bodies, NGOs and the Fourth Estate breathing down their throat, employment of force has ceased to be an option. At least, the same has to be used very sparingly.

The politician-criminal nexus has made the situation worse with policemen often finding themselves caught between a cleft stick. More often than not, the policeman finds it convenient to join the nexus and thus arises, what has come to be known as, a police-criminal-politician nexus, a bane of our body politic. Increasing expectations of the 'hoi polloi' regarding prompt and effective police response to any situation of violence or distress and the necessity to secure scientific evidence that shall stand scrutiny in the legal system warrant the police to optimally harness science and state-of-the-art technology for criminal investigation.

The qualitative improvement in the professional competence of police requires a corresponding attitudinal change informed by the positive values of public service. The content of police training needs to change from a focus merely on law and order to greater sensitivity, appreciation and understanding of the human psyche and behaviour, coupled with better empathetic communication skills and development of pro-active citizen-oriented activities.

We also need to do something about correcting not only the police-population ratio, but also the teeth to tail ratio i.e. officer-rank ratio. The basic infrastructure, the weaponry, sophisticated equipment, better training and motivation are the least required for policing an increasingly anomic society peopled by an impatient public wanting instant justice. The police needs to be modernized, reoriented, retrained and better equipped to tackle the complex law and order situations of today.

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