Better policing

Without numbers to bandy, is it possible to argue that policing in India is in a bad shape? I think it is. Police are stretched, resourceless and politically kept on oversight. There are many more stresses. One more will do. No value is attached to the time of a policeman by those who have any kind of authority in relation to policing. Sounds staggering but so true.

What gives me any right to speak on Police? True that CBI is not uniformed Police. It's an investigation Police, but in areas of Investigation of terrorism whether Punjab or elsewhere and mafia which was my assignment in CBI I from 1984-1996, I needed help, co-operation and guidance from uniformed Police, its intelligence agencies apart from other sources. Plus after retirement from the CBI, I worked with Lt. Governor of Delhi during 1997-98 and again during 2007-2013 as his Police Advisor holding office as Officer on Special Duty (OSD). So, I rate myself competent.

Why is the police stretched? At the root of it is the assumption that a police man's job is a round-the-clock job. If you have to be at it from dawn to dawn, the need to compress your work, be considerate in assigning you to work simply disappears. Since the policeman, irrespective of his rank, is on call 24/7, assignments pile on him and then he will stretch himself in an attempt to attend to all of it. The guilt feeling in the authorities after inflicting 24/7 hours of work is assuaged by giving certain sections of Police ranks 13 months salary for 12 months work. Ultimately, the stretched policemen produce shoddy stuff, bound to do so. How does he get away? Because though shoddy, its deleterious and toxic effects remain carpeted and just ticking. When it does explode in the face years later, it leaves the original defaulting policeman some distance away. In short, while a chef's work or a doctor's treatment or a lawyer's argument or a District Collectors decision, if wrong may explode in their face, a policeman's poor investigation will be exposed after trial and appeal years later. What we need is an eight-hour Police work for an individual policeman in the field with 24/ 7 policing. Once this concept is accepted, the implementation has to be done. It can be done.

Moving to resources, the police station is at the heart of policing. The future will be three of them; Investigation & Trial, Traffic and Law & Order Police stations. At present all three functions are performed from one Police Station. Time is of the essence for every policeman. They must be so quartered that getting to the place of work should not be more than 20-30 minutes each day. Working eight hours a day and getting to work in 30 minutes at the most will maximise resources and ensure effective policing. It will also mean that when a cop is off duty, policing is not off. It continues in else's hands. This will appear absurd to old hands in the police. It goes against the grain of Police work being individual work, especially in areas of investigation and prosecution thereafter. In order to beat the resource crunch and consequent delay, it's necessary to sell the idea of passing on the responsibilities of investigation and prosecution instead of insisting that the original investigator/prosecutor must work on it all through his working life. Our court trials last long; 10, 15, even 20 years. It means while he/she adds on years of work, the responsibility undertaken in the past just tags along. This concept is so hardened into police minds that doing it any differently seems utterly absurd. Resource-crunch is a reality and therefore the management of resources has to be real. Along with this, the infusion of technology and its help is the way out of resource-crunch. One could go on and on and mention the do's and the don't's to show how it is possible but it is best left to the senior managers in the police.

The political oversight over all policing is India's worst kept secret. India's CJI bluntly told the CBI that it works badly when it investigates politically sensitive cases. The naked political oversight in all areas of policing is always manifested and in many ways. From recruitment to training; from posting to transfers; from field work to desk work; from investigations to trials and from their uniform to their civil dress. Tejendra Khanna, a former LG of Delhi mentions a discussion on police reforms where the subject of political oversight on police came up and one CM shot it down with a growl 'take that (political Oversight) away and we will be powerless' look. He had his peers nodding in approval. So far, only one PM has made an attempt to correct the cesspool which comprises the Indian Police at its worst. A B Vajpayee set up the Justice Malimath Committee in 2000 to study the mess in the police. It came up with studied reforms (158 steps) to overhaul our policing including areas where police and judges work in tandem. It was studied and a bill followed by The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) 2005 as an Act got the Presidential assent but the implementation of these amendments is deferred indefinitely. This would have curtailed political oversight and given the victims of crime a voice. Neither ruling parties nor lawyers for the accused want it to be implemented. Hence, it is in limbo and our policing is in purgatory.

(The author is a former Joint Director of CBI. The views are strictly personal)