The Indian Police force -Part II

The first thing I thought was to just abolish the police force. Do away with it completely! But even my imagination boggled at the task! I just couldn't imagine a world without the perennial "maamu". Whatever one might say about the police force, they perform a very important function. Most of the denizens of this country don't do any crimes, because they are afraid of the police. There is still a stigma attached to being arrested. And frankly speaking, most people have no desire to test out the stories of third degree. Till the policemen perform this function of passive prevention, they cant be done off with! We have to bear with them! As the dialog went in a recent Hindi movie, "there will be a man with a gun standing at your doors. You have to decide, whether it will be a policeman or a goon!" Very relevant, I say!

So, if we have to have them, how to make them do their jobs better. For an answer, I tried looking at the more efficient policing forces in history. And the the most efficient one seemed to be the Gestapo. But they are a mite too efficient for me! Really speaking, if we did have something as efficient as that, your's truly would already have been pining away at some concentration camp, thinking why oh why, did I ever write this blog! Then, I brought the efficiency level down a little bit and the London bobbies or the NY PD or LA PD came to mind. But, really speaking, how efficient would an NY PD man be in India. With the provisions and conditions given to the Indian policemen? Just about as efficient as our's is! I mean, no helicopter support, no centrally computerized database, limited forensic support and what not! Can you imagine what they would be like? And then put in the Indian population into the equation. Uneducated, impoverished, segregated with caste, religion, language. I can see the sergeants and patrolmen lining up for tickets back to US.

So, an international solution may not be as agreeable as it might initially seem to. It has to be Indian. Something which has been implemented in India. Hence, I looked in India for efficiency. And immediately, the Indian defense forces struck me! Not that there is no corruption there, or not even that they are the most efficient force in the world. But, they seem to be the most well managed force in India. And some of the principles that apply to them, apply to Indian police as well. Thinking on these lines, I jotted down some pointers that may make the Indian police force work more efficiently than they do.

1. First there are the cosmetic changes. Their uniforms should be changed. Whatever one might say, khaki is the color of peons and other servantile jobs. Not the color of authority! Military green might be good! It may be confusing, though!

2. All policemen should be made to run 2 km in 15 minutes before giving them their salaries. At least, that might keep them in shape and they might look less like mustachio Pete's and more like law keepers.

3. Then the real changes. Most obviously, their pay packages should be improved. You keep hearing in every other movie, that in a Hawaldar's salary, not even cooking gas can be brought, or some version of that statement. So, pay the policemen enough so that they actually feel guilty about not doing their work properly. They actually feel guilty about being corrupt.

4. All the policemen's families should be kept in secure colonies, like the military forces. If they know their families are safe from retribution if they do anything dangerous, might make them more likely to perform their duties. Also, proper insurance should be provided to their families, in case of some untimely accident. They should at least get enough money to support them for the next 4-6 years.

5. Like the military, the police force should be free from political interference. (Here I am assuming the part that the armed forces are free of political interference. It at least seems so!) There should be rules and regulations for transfers and suspensions. Of course, this might mean that the police force might have to be a centrally controlled force, rather than a state controlled force, but that may not be such a bad thing.

I believe, if these 5 changes can be implemented, the police force may work better. However, that they will definitely will do so, depends on one thing. The fact that the police force actually wants to serve the country and it's people. And here, I unfortunately have to say, I have genuine doubts!

P.S.: It is damn difficult to write really serious stuff! I ain't gonna do this ever again! My out-of-this-world, bombastic posts are good enough for me!