The Police today is beset with a myriad range of problems. Some of these are local in nature whereas some have interstate and national ramifications. The age old Police Act of 1861 governed the functioning of the Police department till recently. However the Supreme Court has recently intervened on the basis of a PIL filed by a retired police officer, Mr. Prakash Singh and has directed wide ranging Police Reforms.
The traditional approach implied that the public remain in awe and fear of the police department at all times. This was probably a necessity during the colonial regime. However times have now changed. Increasing liberalization, privatization and the reach of globalisation have drastically changed the scenario. The public expectations are high and there is increasing demand for transparency and accountability in the system. As a fallout, there has been churning in the department and various models have been experimented with all over the country. There is now a feeling that we need to move away from the role of a traditionally ‘feared policeman’ towards one ‘who is a friend in need’.
Rajasthan Police during the last three years has initiated several measures to make the police more pro-active and responsive to the needs of the community. The objective behind it all was enshrined in our motto which stated - faith among the public and fear amongst the law breakers.
I. Community Involvement
(a) Outreach Programme - A Jansahbhagita (partnership with public) campaign was started in Dec 2004 to win public confidence through better response mechanism, improved service delivery, better flow of criminal intelligence and providing solution to local problems on the spot. This envisaged the SHO visiting the villages/wards after prior information and listening to their complaints and thereafter taking steps to solve such problems. This programme has built up trust, has resulted in better police - public cooperation and has now been incorporated as a regular feature of our police working.
(b) Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism - Community Liaison Groups (CLGs), consisting of public spirited citizens representing a cross section of the local community, were constituted in all panchayats/wards as well as at the police station, the district and the state level. One state level, 37 district level, 672 police station level and 25,694 panchayat/ward level CLGs were formed making thousands of CLG members as active partners of police in crime prevention and dispute resolution. In Jaipur city there 67 CLG groups.
The CLGs and the beat constables intervene in matters relating to complaints and disputes and try to work out mutually agreeable solutions thus avoiding prolonged litigation. The police and the courts both benefit in terms of savings of time and effort. During the last two year over 60,000 complaints and disputes and over 8,000 compoundable cases pending in the court were amicably settled. All this ensures better transparency and reduces the scope for malpractice and corruption.
(c) Women Counselling centres - Women counselling centers have been set up in all districts and in a number of sub divisional headquarters in the State. Some of these centers are managed by trained personnel of NGOs while others are run by social workers, teachers etc. Complaints brought by women, including cognizable and non-cognizable ones, are referred to these centers for counselling and amicable settlement.
(d) Community Police Officers - This scheme was taken up in the second quarter of 2006. The local residents are herein persuaded to appoint reliable local youth as the community police officers for night patrolling, collection of criminal intelligence and surveillance over known criminals of the area. A CPO is appointed for about 100 households/shops. There are over 1300 CPO’s in Jaipur city itself.
(e) Sambal scheme – This scheme aims to provide support and security to the senior citizens living in the locality who either do not have children or whose children do not stay with them. The beat constables collect information about such senior citizens and visit them every week to render help in matters as depositing of forms, bank related work, other office related matters etc. Over 700 senior citizens are covered under this scheme in Jaipur city.
(f) Aastha – Under this scheme policemen and social workers go to different localities, schools and colleges and learn about the problems being faced by them and then make them aware of their rights and privileges. They also tell them about the various laws and legal provisions which can be taken recourse to in case someone tries to take liberty with them. Young girls, housewives and children are all covered under this scheme.
II. Infrastructure
(a) Model police stations – These were established in 2004 in every police district. The procedures for various types of service delivery were laid down as standard operating procedures to improve responsiveness and efficiency. The first of these police stations secured ISO 9001-2000 certification on 11th Nov. 2005. Today there are 42 ISO certified police stations in the state whereas another 164 are in the process of acquiring this elite status. The quest for ISO certification has helped establish standard operating procedures and ensured quality output by incorporating better transparency and accountability.
(b) Beat Bags- This constitutes a mobile office for every beat constable. It contains the beat book, survey register, complaints pertaining to his area and other related information on the different schemes being run at the police station etc. This helps the police officer update information on all different parameters during his one visit to the locality thus increasing his efficiency and helps build up his domain knowledge about his area. About 10 police stations have introduced this in the city.
(c) Information desk – This has been established in all police stations for giving information to complainants on their queries regarding progress made in investigation, status of complaints and verifications etc. This has resulted in better customer satisfaction and transparency. These are being manned by the duty officers of the police station. 70 % of the police stations in the city have this facility.
(d) Gymnasium – A healthy body keeps a healthy mind. This facility has been created keeping this dictum in mind. Policeman as a community is exposed to a variety of physical and mental stress.. The gymnasium acts as a great stress buster and an outlet for release of pent up emotions. A good workout ensures a healthy and stress free policeman and thereby better productivity on job. About half a dozen PS in the city beat stress using this technique.
(e) CLG rooms/ Halls – These facilities have been created to help alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Separate rooms give the CLG members a new identity and a sense of being empowered responsible citizens. The credibility and respectability of the CLG members in the society goes a long way in settling the police cases which are often registered on grounds of misunderstanding.
(f) Health profile of police personnel – This study aims to assess the physical health, mental status, life style, social life and the eating habits of police personnel. It will also study the social, economic and working environment of police personnel and its effect on his health and family life, if any. Jaipur, Bhilwara and Pali districts have been chosen for this study.
(g) Women’s Desk – The police station staff was made to understand the important issue of gender sensitization and a separate ladies desk has now been introduced at each police station. Every young girl or lady coming to the police station goes to this desk to give her complaint where she is attended by a lady police officer. The police officer empathizes with the complainant and suggests the best approach to the problem. This initiative has emboldened the women who now come to the police station and discuss their problems without any fear or inhibition. All police stations in the city have this desk.
(h) Unmanned Canteens – Apart from the external cleansing and good infrastructure, attempt has also been made to make policemen self motivating and be honest to himself. Small canteens have been set up in police stations where snacks and eatables are kept. There is however no person manning these counters and a register is kept near by which lists out the items available and their price. Any person consuming these is expected to make a note of such consumption in the register and the expenses are collected from him at the end of every quarter. This programme has been quite successful and after some discrepancies in the initial months the balance sheets now tally.
(i) Bicycle patrolling – This demand came from the public when it was felt that the patrolling by police vehicles in narrow by lanes was restricted because of congestion therein. The CLG groups have since provided a number of police stations with cycles and now regular and intensive patrolling is a regular phenomenon in streets and by lanes where such did not exist earlier.
(j) Color coded records – Appropriate inputs have been given to make even the layman in the police station aware of the different records available there. All FIR registers have a different colour and so do the registers which compile the charge sheets and FR. One glance in the record room makes things crystal clear regarding the availability or otherwise of a particular record in a particular shelf or almirah.
III. Enforcement
(a) Action against hardcore offenders - With a view to instill fear of law amongst repeat offenders and give relief to the community this scheme was started. Such offenders are earmarked and their activities are kept under close scrutiny by the police with the help of the community. Their criminal records are updated and efforts are made to keep them behind bars by resorting to preventive action, opposing their bail and getting their bail cancelled in certain cases. Approximately 200 offenders are being kept track of under this scheme in the city.
(b) Rehabilitation of criminals- Juvenile delinquents in the age group of 15-20 years who are found involved in property related crimes are given alternative employment seeking the help of CLG members. Vocational training and on the job training are also attempted for willing young persons. SHO’s are asked to check the progress made by these youngsters during such training stints.
(c) Criminal Follow up – It has been observed that after a final report has been put up against a criminal in the court, the police department rarely keeps track of him during the process of trial. Some times these criminals commit offences while returning from their court attendance. During this scheme the court attendance dates of such criminals is noted and they are kept track of. Their lawyer, their acquaintances and the people who meet him are all noted. Such a procedure acts as a check on such criminals and prevents the commission of crime by them.
(d) Operation Garima – This programme was launched to prevent girls from undue harassment and eve teasing by irresponsible young men. Police patrols, policemen in civilian clothes and motorcycle patrolling was introduced near girls colleges/ schools to bring about check on this social evil. Complaint boxes were put in girls colleges to obtain information about such activities from people who did not want to come forward while making complaints. This programme has been quite a success and has helped build up confidence in young girls.
(e) Door to Door survey – Detailed information is collected about each and every house in the locality by the beat constable. The houses are then divided into three categories – those which need to be checked regularly, those which need to be checked of and on and lastly which are safe and need to be checked seldom. This procedure on the one hand helps the beat constables get detailed information on each and every person living in the area and on the other hand keeps a check on unwanted and nefarious elements trying to get a foothold in the area. This survey will be completed shortly in all police stations of the city.
(f) Alert Neighbourhood scheme – This is similar to the neighborhood watch scheme and aims at forming a group of 5-6 neighbours. All these persons are made aware of the contact details of each other. Each member is thereafter expected to inform the others about his movement in and out of the city. The neighbours are also asked to inform the police about any suspicious movement or the presence of any suspicious person in the area to ensure safety and security of all denizens. 26 police stations of Jaipur city have already introduced this.
IV. Training
(a) Attitudinal changes and empowerment- Several workshops and training programmes have been organized to inculcate a positive bent of mind among policemen and make them efficient in stress and time management. Counselling by clinical psychologists has been started as a pilot project in select police stations of five police districts. Rolling trophies have also been instituted for the best district, best police station and the best constable of the year. Each police station selects a best constable every month and this has encouraged healthy competition.
MIT, CII, FICCI, industrial units etc. have all been associated in varying degrees to bring about attitudinal changes in policemen. These programmes have been run by experts and professionals. An ambitious programme was undertaken to put all the constables through a two-day training programme, in all districts. The lowest rung of the police force was assigned specific areas and virtually made the SHOs for their beats. This empowerment resulted in increased motivation and higher efficiency at work from this segment which constitutes 80% of our force.
(b) Pilot Project of MIT - After a 7-month study of our policing system, MIT, in collaboration with the Rajashan Police started a pilot project in nine police stations of Jaipur district in Feb 2006. The project envisages an assured minimum tenure, job rotation, a weekly day off and the placing of a community observer in the police station during the peak hours. The presence of community observers has a sobering influence on the police personnel and brings about total transparency in their dealings. The base line survey done by MIT revealed that 65% of the people reported that the police behaviour was good and 73% felt that police was helpful. The pilot project has now been extended to another 150 police stations in 10 selected districts of Rajasthan. Recently a number of policemen were given a three day exposure on soft skills under the aegis of this programme.
(c) Altus Global Alliance – This is a global initiative by Altus to improve public safety and justice by identifying the best practices at the police station level and then disseminating them across different countries. The services at the police stations pertaining to community orientation, physical conditions, parity in treatment, transparency, accountability and the detention conditions are looked into.
Police station Shipra Path of Jaipur city was ranked number one station in the world by the global community in 2006 whereas PS Vidhayakpuri, another police station of Jaipur city, has been ranked third in Asia in 2007. Six police stations of Jaipur district participated in this competition this year.
V. Investigation/Trial
(a) Speedy Transparent Investigation- With a view to expedite investigations, and to reduce the scope for corruption, investigating officers are directed to visit the scene of crime expeditiously, complete the investigation as far as possible there itself and forward the case diary with tentative conclusions to the DySP within 48 hours to ensure quick disposal of the case. Any deviation from this tentative conclusion needs to be explained on the basis of evidence collected. This step has resulted in the reduction of scope for malpractices during the investigation and has reduced pendency of cases under investigation.
(b) Case-officer scheme - Selected sensational cases murder, rape etc are assigned to earmarked officers who closely follow up the trial, arrange for speedy trial through better liaison with the judiciary and prosecution, ensure attendance of witnesses in the court, and see that they do not turn hostile due to fear or allurements. The Rajasthan High Court has recently issued directions to all the subordinate courts to conduct expeditious trial of cases taken up under the case officer scheme. The rate of conviction in these cases has increased from less than 30% to 70%. This scheme has speeded up the trial of cases beyond expectations. About 300 cases have been taken up under this scheme in Jaipur city.
VI. Science & Technology
(a) Technology inputs – The local police is in the process of introducing a GPRS based vehicle tracking system which will link all the city based police vehicles. This will ensure better utilization of our scarce resources, improve our response time and ensure better service standards for the people.
Efforts are also on to introduce voice activated response systems to routine queries as status of complaints, passports applications, arms license renewals etc to make more manpower available in the field. Efforts are also being made to incorporate more and more technology during investigation to put up incontrovertible, irrefutable and more credible evidence in the courts.
(b) Traffic Police - This wing has introduced many innovations incorporating technology. Traffic violations are caught on camera and challans sent to the vehicle owners. Vehicle interceptors are being used to check over-speeding vehicles on highways and drunken driving in the city. Efforts are also on to introduce cameras which will capture the vehicle registration plate at all times of day and night to check on stolen vehicles or raise an alarm on escaping vehicles.
Conclusion
The various initiatives listed above have all contributed to an increase in overall efficiency in police working. Systemic changes were introduced at the individual as well as the organizational level. Whereas job enrichment and job rotation were an integral part of the former, better equipment, furniture and other amenities formed part of the latter. Technology has also been incorporated in a fair measure to improve database management, reduce response time and provide easy access to routine information.
All there measures have helped improve transparency in police working, made police more accountable and increased the overall efficiency of the police department through better material and manpower utilization.
These innovations are only a small step in the desired direction, the best is only waiting to happen.
(3036 words)
* Published as an Agenda item in Compendium for XXXVIII All India Police Science Congress ( Jan 29-31, 2008), Jaipur, Rajasthan.
* Published in Rajasthan Police Patrika (inhouse journal of Rajasthan Police), April- June 2008, pp 10.
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