WHAT AILS PROFESSIONAL POLICING IN INDIA
Discipline, in the case of the police force, is both an advantage and a disadvantage. It is an advantage because, if discreetly employed, it can prevent undue interaction of the police with unwanted elements. It is a disadvantage because the police, with its trained response, may find it difficult to isolate itself from the behests of its political masters.
The first and foremost job in this background is to free the police from the unhealthy influence of politicians of all hues by making it accountable to an independent authority with absolute power to take decisions. The authority should be a professional body with men of proven calibre and quality who have reached a stage where they need not sacrifice their convictions to appease those in power. It shall be directly responsible to the legislature and function as an independent authority like the judiciary, the Comptroller and Auditor General or the Election Commission.
The recruitment procedure should be overhauled to ensure that really the best from the job-seekers are roped in. Any interference in matters of recruitment should be promptly and decisively resisted. Only highly qualified officers of proven probity should be entrusted with the task, the ugly head of bribery ruthlessly crushed and the unhealthy trend of making recruitment a business checked. The infusion of good blood even at this late hour is certain to repair the damage.
The jobs should be made attractive with good salaries and satisfactory working conditions that will give the resolve to resist the bait thrown by the criminals. Social scientists say that bribery is inversely proportional to the financial strength of a social group. Therefore, better salaries and congenial working conditions will definitely make the police less sensitive to these lures. It has to be ensured that the right man comes to the right job and that honesty is rewarded. An unbiased assessment of the work and character of the personnel will take the organisation in the right direction.
Those who are empowered to assess subordinates and their work must be made answerable to prevent misuse of this responsibility. The creation of a high-power core group of people adept at assessing men and character may help to create a feeling of confidence and security and inspire the police personnel to discharge their duties fearlessly. This group should be made ultimately responsible for all career decisions, for the development of the police, work assessment, job analysis, recruitment and management of human resources.
It is unfortunate that there is no relation between an officer’s efficiency and performance and his standing in the organisation. The officers are so indifferent to the performance of their subordinates that they are absolutely in the dark about the standard of work turned out under their supervision. Another reason for this sad affair may be that they are not qualified to assess. This situation leads to random assessment and, in the process, talents wither and opportunities overtake high-calibre workers on the hierarchical ladder. This can be rectified by arranging motivation courses for police officers who must be taught about the work they are required to perform, its importance and how to discharge their duties. Policemen generally distance themselves from all mental activities. Training must endeavour to break this trait and coax candidates to open up their minds and reflect on all matters before making decisions. In this context, it must be mentioned that often the habit of reading becomes a casualty once a person enters the service.
This negative approach to reading and thinking has resulted in poor professional knowledge, particularly at the higher ranks. Work knowledge is generally limited to what is remembered from experience and bits of what has been learnt from books during training decades earlier. The style of supervision in the police should be seen to be believed. All order to subordinates emanate from a perfect void. The best that is done is to hold a meeting of subordinates wherein the latter are allowed to arrive at a course of action to meet a situation and the decision is returned to them as an order to perform. The style of ineffective supervision must stop if the aim is to achieve quality. The system of overlapping supervision because of multiple ranks, where none really discharges his role must be scrapped. A thorough overhauling of training and the application of modern techniques would go a long way in mending the situation.
The organisation has become top-heavy. In States where there were only two officers of the rank of Inspector General for say 40,000 men and officers about ten years ago, there are now nearly 20 officers of and above that rank for say, a force of 50,000. What are these people at the top policing apart from being a drain on the state revenue and a nuisance to officers down the ladder by issuing conflicting instructions?
Promotion to a higher rank serves no purpose unless it means a more challenging job and a suitable man is, therefore, selected to meet the challenges. But this is not the case. Posts are created to satisfy vested interests. Most of these jobs often serve as places to forget the pressures of family life. However, the same luxury does not extend to the more unfortunate ranks at the lower levels, including the constabulary. While vacancies at the topmost level are filled up by promotions effected overnight, promotions at the intermediary levels take weeks and even months, depending on the rank. It is years in the case of the constabulary. There are cases where vacancies of head constables and assistant sub-inspectors or sub-inspectors are not filled up for several years. Many have retired without a promotion. Policing is a job performed mostly at the lower levels with involvement stopping at the level of the Superintendent. Beyond that, it is a supervisory task and in a police force with no supervision to speak of, higher ranks are simply redundant. Any move to expand these ranks cannot be called an honest effort to serve the public. But that is what is happening.
The process of recruitment is even worse. Selection has become a misnomer. It is random at best and high business at its worst. This approach may leave governance and public life in jeopardy. Policing is a highly sensitive profession and requires only specially equipped people to handle it. It demands certain specific traits in officers which cannot be learnt by any amount of training. The most evident symbol of authority and power people trust is the policemen. In the circumstances, the wrong selection can be fatal for the nation. India is deeply caught in a mire. There is a price fixed for each rank of the police. How can a recruit who enters service by paying a bribe be expected not to reap returns? What can be his picture of the service that the enters? It is absurd to expect professional policing from such a recruit.
The common aim in recruitment now is to complete the job without inviting legal hurdles. Sometimes even rules are overstepped to cut short procedures and do away with cumbersome work. Posts at the lowest level but nevertheless sensitive, like drivers, are filled up arbitrarily. Quality suffers as a result. This is equally so in transfers.
Honesty, integrity and hard work have yielded place to personal loyalty and usefulness for personal work. Those who do not come up to the expectations of personal loyalty fall out of favour and are eliminated from the line of command. This is one of the main factors for the slow degeneration of the police.
The police is a sacred confluence of those who choose policing as their profession and work together transcending their caste, creed, social standing and rank in order to control crime and maintain law and order. But this objective cannot be achieved when there is no common cause and everybody works for personal progress.
The general reluctance of the Indian police force to adopt new ideas and the ungainly handling of modernisation projects have resulted in its losing the race with organised crime and syndicates. Modern equipment are bought, but the personnel are not trained to use them. Thus the gadgets gather dust and break down.
No government with weak police system can survive, whatever its other assets. The police should be extricated from the clutches of criminals and politicians to make it a professional outfit with objectivity and commitment to its task. There is no point in beginning the cleansing operation from the side of the criminals or politicians. It has to begin from the side of the police by insulating it from the vile influences of criminal wealth and political power. Once this is done everything else will fall into place.
