Police department is an important institution for any civil society to maintain order and law. Indian police system which is liable to maintain the order, in this vast population is not an easy task .
We can say that Indian police department is one of the bravest and the most disordered institutions we have ever seen.
It is quite ironic that a population of 1.35b people was managed by 0.5m policemen , an institution that is always in doubts and controversies. No question why the biggest institution works on the basis of order in disorder and people losing their faith in justice and law.
Now , a high time to change the existing structure, as we know the area and methods of crime is enlarging its limit and investigating systems or institutions need to reform accordingly.
After the cyber attacks and evolving technological crime, it has become a demand for society. Various States suffer [cyber crime] due to lack of technical knowledge and help, the whole system of police was questioned on the ground of capability
.Same as criminal investigation due to lack of professionalism some cases were never solved or still ongoing .A sub-inspector who was supervising a political rally is allowed to investigate crime cases that result in crime scenes being distorted due to lack of professionalism. Doesn't we need professional criminal investigators and cyber experts who handle the case with specified knowledge.
The question is how should we do it ?
How to create a structure for more professional and determined policeman?
Our Police department have there own training centers, there we can implement professional training for detectives like [ criminologist and evidence forensic study ] for police officers who are interested in crime solving we can also define there post as a public detective and [IT, and cyber knowledge ] for police officers who posted as a cyber police .
This division would create certain sense of professionalism and depth knowledge on particular field.
The behaviour of the police toward the public is still on a different level has not changed as per the expectations of a democratic, free India. It is in the 21st century that people are facing difficulty to get cases registered and properly investigated and prosecuted. Support that police give on basis of social status oand political benifits ,Instances of torture have only increased and third-degree methods are still used in investigation. The lack of coordination between the prosecution , police and different investigating agencies, results in poor conviction rates. How a criminals have careers spanning lifetimes and gather monetary resources and became rich and respect? They are the products of our social system looked after by political leaders who directly indirectly get police help, then they build them into mafias or local bahubali and use them to terrorise opponents and help in elections. Would this be possible without a friendly police and kind-hearted government? So who wants reforms? The political parties certainly do not.
Government facts
24% vacancies in state forces; 1
7% in central forces.
''86% of the state police are constables. Constables are typically promoted once during their service,and commonly retire as head constables. This could weaken their Motivation to perform well.''
Crime per lakh population has increased by 28% over the last decade (2005-2015)1. The Indian Law Commission has observed that one of the reasons behind this is the poor quality of investigations,and case handling.
An Overburdened Police Force: State police forces had 24% vacancies (about 5.5 lakh vacancies) in January 2016. Hence, while the sanctioned police strength was 181 police per lakh persons in 2018, the actual strength was 138 police.DATA
This is way too low when compared with the United Nations’ recommended standard of 222 police per lakh persons.
In past six months 4,893 cases pertaining to rape, molestation, kidnapping, eve-teasing etc were registered as compared to 6,152 similar cases reported last year between January and June. JUST IN HARYANA
He said as many as 657 rape cases were reported between January and June 2020 as compared to 803 last year. “The rape cases show a reduction of 18.18%, while the kidnapping/abduction cases have dropped by 27.41%.There has been a sharp drop of 20.46% in crime against women during the first six months of 2020 in comparison to the corresponding period of 2019,” the DGP said in past six months 4,893 cases pertaining to rape, molestation, kidnapping, eve-teasing etc were registered as compared to 6,152 similar cases reported last year between January and June. He said 1,259 less number of cases were registered during the first six months of 2020 in comparison to last year which is “the sharpest decline in crime against women” and attributed this to “round-the-clock vigil by Haryana cops.”
The police training system includes finger print training which is a old school thing to do.
Now the technology we have its time to upgrade the model of Indian police system.
PROBLEM AND CONDITIONS
Post independence there have been plenty of well-spoken concerns and political debates about what is lacking in the administration of the police force and the nature of reforms required. These find place in the The National Police Commission 1977-1981,
Ribeiro Commission 1998,
Padmanabhaiah Committee 2000,
Mali math Committee 2002-2003,
Police Act Drafting Committee 2005,
Supreme Court directions in Prakash Singh vs Union of India 2006,
Second Administrative reforms 2007, Police Act Drafting Committee II.
The Model Police Act of 2006 was circulated to all the states; that very year, 17 states passed new laws or amended their existing laws in light of this new model law.
In 1996, a petition was filed before the Supreme Court by a retired senior police officer Prakash Singh that raised various occurrence of abuse of power by the police, and had various presumption that police personnel perform their duties in a politically biased manner. The Supreme Court issued directions in its judgment in 2006, ordering the Centre and States to set up authorities to lay down guidelines for police functioning, evaluate police performance, decide postings and transfers and receive complaints of police misconduct.
Depoliticization of Police department
One of the biggest reason why Police efficiency are questioned is political intervention.
In present time we all know how much rooted the political intervention is our police department. Even the primary work pf police like investigation , FIR, preparing,charsheets.
Condition
The Police Department has outstanding officers who often proven integrity at all levels and given the opportunity and freedom to act, they will bring about the change. If this is not done, you may bring all the reforms you want to and all the judicial declaration but nothing will change. The power to bring this change is with the legislature and political class . suely nobody wants change. But this isn't about public or political class it is about an institution who has a duty to maintain the law and order. They are not just weak as professionals but also lack of proper equipments.
Police stations in India doesn't have basic infrastructure and adequate workforce to control the rising number of crimes in the country the Bureau of Police Research and Development has also noted a 30.5% deficiency in stock of required vehicles with the state forces. Poor & inadequate PCR : Police community relations in India are normally just on paper .Looking next at the annual spending on police forces in the country, out of the total police expenditure of rupee 74257. crores during 2014-15, a mere 1.46% amounting to Rs.1086 of the total police expenditure was spent on training. As a result of this training and lack of our management system academies, which play a critical role in the building of the police force, lag behind in infrastructure and facilities. Given the increasing crime rate the financial support for modernization of police force should be increasing. Yet the finances provided by the Centre have been falling- the Rs.2000 crores sanctioned till 2014 have fallen to mere s. 595 crores in 2016-17. 342 police stations across the country do not have a telephone;, 127 stations have no wireless facilities and 54 have neither of the two To reach the crime scene, the police has a little more than seven vehicles for every hundred policemen. Lack of forensic support has piled up pending exhibits to the tune of 6,54,859 waiting to be examined as on 1 January 2015.
The police housing facilities are also an issue. It currently faces a shortage to accommodate the increased police strength across the country. The BPR&D report shows that although there is 8.06% increment in overall sanctioned strength of police force, the family accommodation has only been raised by 6.44% which means a chunk of police personnel do not have proper accommodation.DATA
Solutions
Maintenance of law and order and investigation should be separated.
18% OF POLICE ARE OFFICERS AND 82% ARE CONSTABLES AND HWALDARS.
New category of promotion should be launched, it help to create certain interest among non-officers class.
upgrade a police training module according to modernity.
Basic facilities for police should be the priority of state government.
increment of the salary for non officers class.
footnote-
Sources: Bureau of Police Research and Development; PRS.
NCRB [ National crime records bureau ]
AUTHORED BY -:
ADVOCATE
AYUSHMAN DUBEY
PATNA HIGHCOURT
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