What measures would you like to see to make the Police Forces more accountable to citizens?

Question

Tragically, the Police force today is seen to serve the best interests of political parties, bureaucrats, businessmen and other such entities. For most police personnel, this is a way of survival. The purpose of police in any society is to maintain law and order and ensure public safety. Policing, like teaching and medicine, has a very intimate connection with social life and social change. Yet, the Police are hardly seen in such terms by citizens. At best, there is a sense of cynicism and at worst, even fear of the Police forces. How do we insulate policing from such negative political and bureaucratic interferences to make it fully accountable to law and civil society?

Additional Details

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Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

*First of all the corruption has to be stopped in the recruitment.
*secondly the last Sepoy deployed in the street is to be make responsible for any mishappening in his area.
*Thirdly the Area Inspector is to be responsible for his area.
*Similarly it will go up.
But the main thing is that discipline percolates from top to bottom & not from bottom to top.

Answer 2

In order to save the police from the clutches of politicians,the police department should be made an autonomous body like judiciary. Eventhough the courts are run from government exchequer,still government cannot dictate terms on courts. so police department should also function as an independent body. Because of the political intervention only police fail to do justice to the deserving one and they hav e to see the face before taking action. At the same time, there should be a counterchek on the police also. For that each police station should have a vigilance cell to which the general public can approach with their grievances against the police personnel and the officers posted in the vigilence cell should not be from police staff but they should be from Department of Personnel or Judiciary. The Vigilance cell should be empowered to conduct enquiry against a police officer under their jurisdiction and on report action should be taken against the erring oofficer. Once the general public feel that for the wrong c ommitted by the police,there will be an immediate remedy, the police will mellow down in their attitude. They will realise that their service is to maintain law and order in the country and not break the law and order. Once their actions are counterchecked by able hands,their attitude will definitely change.

Answer 3

In general about the whole country , it would be difficult to comment for me as, but as far as Mumbai is concerned , we have a great police force working day and night for preserving peace. Except for a bunch of few nuisance officers, we have a great team in Mumbai.
As compared to what I have seen in my native place and perceived through television media, law and order in the northern states like Bihar and Uttar pradesh is in a mess, and we definitely have to work hard to improve the situation there. Unlike America , where people have tremendous belief in their police force, we in India hardly have faith in them just because of some wicked and greedy officers who are spoiling the name of the whole police force.
We all have to come forward and form a team of people who can preserve the honour of this noble job. Some recommendations would be :
Selection of all ranks of officers through a competitive entrance examination, without any caste, religion or region bias.
Increase in number of recruits.
Increase in number of female recruits.
We got to revise and increase the pay structure as well.

I as an Indian have full faith in my system, and really appreciate your participation in our system .

Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra.

Answer 4

Madam, that is a tough question to answer because the police alone are not prone to corruption. It is rampant in all departments and all sectors. As per the general saying about political and bureacratic interventions in policing. Even if independant cells were to be established comprising humans. It would end to be the same story with the humans developing their own weaknesses and giving in to pressures. Again, it is very difficult to amass or recruit honest personnel. From my several personal visits to police stations with genuine grievance it has been observed that most of the time there is staff shortage due to bandobust duty or similar such work. It appears that police are treated more like watchmen or security guards and not necessarily to curb criminalisation.

Answer 5

The answer to your question lies in what our mindset is. Its best for the people to know than to fear that the police are here to help them. We have the mindset that the police is a puppet of politicians and businessmen or in other words of the people who have the power and money. Police is the only one who is to be blamed for this. The police should restrict it to its sole purpose of ensuring law and order and nothing else. Police should try to change the image they have in people's minds. Simply they should deter all the interferences from th epoliticians or the powerful ones and help those who need it. They should improve upon the public relations by imparting more and more information about their work culture and ethics. They should be given power in the constitution to avoid any type of interferences as well.

Answer 6

The PEOPLE should do what the law of the land instructs them to do. People who get into trouble have their own selves to blame. If they obeyed the law, they wouldn't be in trouble. It is just that simple. There doesn't need to be any public scrutiny on the police force, unless there is just cause to believe that there is intentional corruption. Corruption such as intentional racist action. That doesn't mean, however, that the police are going to act on that basis. I believe that your intent lies in the area of those who are suspected because of what they do, that fits a certain profile. Break the profile and give it time, then the problems should dissipate. Yes, I do know what I am talking about by the way. I've seen it in my own family.
I have no fear for the police. I feel better when I do see them. I believe that the terms of part of your question is based in part on those who are breaking the law, but believe that they should be allowed to do as they please. That only leads to anarchy. Do you support anarchy?

Answer 7

Really??? I haven't experienced that at all. Not here in south Texas, nor in any of the other states I lived or traveled in. I think you must be talking about some other country and not the U.S. The police here are very involved with the communities they serve. They are very visible and, though not often enough, very appreciated by the citizenry.

Answer 8

First thing which comes to my mind regarding police is they are friends of the rich and influential and not the common man.This situation has come to stay because they have a very powerful weapon with them in the form of being the first office installed by the govt.for the protection of the rights of the individual , and help him to earn his lively hood.But unfortunately this weapon provided by the electrorate and govt. is used by him to earn fast money,and there are plenty of money bags to corrupt him.To change there should be amulti pronged action plan.1]police man should be made to feel his profession noble and command respect from the people instead of demanding respect.2]For this feeling to grow in him the police man should be adequately taken care of by providing him a decent pay packet and other basic supports for his family and children to .lead a decent life 3]The police man should take lead for regular interacton and h out the illetrate and poor people of the society , guide them and protect them from exploitation and deprivement. By these deeds he can bridge the communcation gap with the common people 4]It will be worth while for even senior level police men to swap their area for few days to travell and understand the failings by visiting in civil dress where he is not recognised.This was a practice with Rajas in olden days.5]Modify the training pattern to inculcate human values, using specialist psychitratics,along with the tough exterior required in dischargng his duties. 6]Say a word of appreciation about the low level people in force when they do a good job and quote them as example so the spirit to emulate good things are kindled in others also 7]why cannot a police man be thought as you think about your teachers or your family doctor--- with respect and regards.

Answer 9

Even to answer this question people will be afraid as it concerns the police.
That is the fear in the minds of people, the citizens of India.
I personally feel that the Police personnel should get better salaries and perks, to avoid any corruption.
Everyone outside the police force is afraid of the police.
You know this so well.

The society has lost trust in the police .and this is very sad as the police is the law keeper of the nation.
You must go incognito and see and judge for yourself.

Source(s):

my own

Answer 10

I was bemused by the answer of littlechr. I wonder if he knows whether the question has been posed by a seasoned police officer herself. Possibly, he is a police cop working down the line, disgruntled by the criticism from less a person than Kiran Bedi. I think the officer, has not been overly critical about the police force. She is only highlighting the bad image that came to stick to the profession, she is in and she is only rightly anxious that a system should be evolved to remove the blot that has besmirched its image. As a lay-man, the following are my suggestions for improving the image and the effciency of the police force:-

1) Make the police force completely autonomous and give it complete freedom in respect of criminal investigation and law and order. The Political leadership shall not interfere with its day-to-day functioning. Some thing like the Election Commission. The EC was not conscious of its powers untill after the tenure T.N.Seshan.

2) There should be a separate force earmarked for protection of the VIPs and the deployment of regualr police force for their security should stop so that the police is not detracted from their tradional role of policing and prevention and detection of crime.

3) Corruption of the bane in the police, as it is in every other system of governemnt. But, its effect on the public comes out directly and visibly. In a way, the role of a police man can be likened to that of a judge, for he helps in rendering justice to the affected and wronged. Hence, the need to make the force free from the evil of corruption. They should be givne a handsome salary and other amenities.

4) They should be inculcated a sense of dignity and moral values. They should be sensitised to the problems of the common man. Now, every police man feels that he is to primarily satisfy the political boss. That mind set, which is prevalent even among the top police officers should go. They need to be statutorily protected. The up right officer should be punished for any acts done by him in good faith, in due discharge of his duty.

5) The public should be taught to respect the police rather than fear the police. The institutions like the police are as good as the people are. The people need to be inculcated the sense of law abiding and no society which has no respect for law and the law enforcing agencies will be able to ahieve progress. Discipline among the public and among the police are interconnected. A continuous process of educating the public is to be encouraged. Religious and social organisations have to play an active role. As regards imparting the value system among the police, there should be a regualr training session for the police, where moral education and ethics should form part of the training.

6) What has happened the recommendations of various Commissions set up to improve the functioning of the Police? There should be an active discussion over these recommendations and worthwhile action be taken on these recommendations.

Answer 11

No comments, it wont change, they dont have sense of humanity
they think being a police they own the country

One of my personal instance, to make my passport i was called for verification and you know what the police says that i need to make one more affidavit, i told alright i'll make it you tell me which one, he told me that i can waive that of but you need to pay me 300 rupees, i told that i will not pay, he told me then forget about your passport, alright i told that below there's a number to call/compaint for police who asks for money, then getting scared he signed on the application and this is how i got thru

I'm not talking about me but same like me millions of people are getting bribed and pay money everday..i thik that there should be
cameras in the police stations and strict law for all who are caught in such malpratices.

i mean that whoever is caught no mercy..just terminate from services.this will lead to end of corruption and fear in the minds of the police that if they get caught they'll be punished.

Answer 12

First of all, avoid brutal lockups,avoid hanging,avoid severe punishments.Instead concatenate the police forces with prayer and meditation.Provide measures of counciling and sharing with the jailors.This will enable the upbringing of a noble utopean police.Sometimes the criminal would not be aware of the severety or magnanimous nature of the problem , but may have in certain situation done abuse.The total history of the criminal must be gauged before punishing.Whether he/she were ever mentally imbalanced , if so what was the root cause, only after these consideration should he be severely punished.

Answer 13

The police force in India is no better than an army of authorized goons and "hafta"-collectors.
It is a drain on the Indian society and its progress- as it is a tool for the corrupt politicians and the party in power.
1>I believe we should dismantle the existing police force entirely.
2>The police action should be outsourced to private security agencies which would generate employment for people and bring in transparency and accountability.
3>Instead of government control, we should have an autonomous body similar to the SEBI or TRAI to monitor, coordinate and regulate this private non-government police force This body should be accountable jointly to the judiciary and the Parliament but not to any government.
4>Moreover we should invest in infrastructure for roads, traffic signals and security cameras which would bring in much needed competence than the current situation where we are at the mercy of an apathetic, corrupt, incompetent, bloated police.

Answer 14

Strong Discipline in police is required as Army.

Answer 15

It is really pleasing that truth has been brought out by an IPS, I salute you madam.
You see the police personnel are also amonhgs the same race (human-being) and how can they be different from a common man who is illiterate. The fear of police in common man's mind persist since the begining of its' existance but in far past this was only to deter a man for doing wrong, today more % of pepole doing wrong are not feared of police rather they take sheltor with police. This is not totally because of politicians & bureaucrates but the route goes deeply to the illiteracy in each family. The support to be bad comes from the common man only, that to for very silly benifits, surprisingly mostly these are known to magority of the peoplle but non wants to bring it out.
Following are few suggestion to begin reformig literacy (not education ! today we are more educated) in each one of the society:
a) I tell every one and in each feild of life that literacy starts at root lebal i.e.family, (means when a child start learning lesson i.e. in laps of mother & under care of father) and not at the time one start going to school or earning his bread-butter. Once this is put in right process the up-comming member of society would automatically be loyal to truth and nothing bad would be expected from them let them be 'police', 'politician' 'bureaucrate' or else.
b) Build up the moral of police trainees, specially the IPS, by making honesty their sole charecteristic.

If a & b happens the non-accountability amongs each other will never be carried by any person let them be in any feild.

Thanks for puting forward such question.

Source(s):

Self

Answer 16

Need to acknowledge what police force is doing and incentives the force for doing good work by giving better salary and perks...good education for their children...in short make them heros rather than every time only pointing out bad things about them.
Moreover, a complete image makeover along with intensive training will be good idea to change the focus. Also there should be revamp of entire turn around time (TAT) process for each activity they do.
Lastly, pls. do not send them for security out side a star's house or minister's bunglow ...they are worth of doing better jobs.

PAY THEM MORE.

Answer 17

Police force needs to demonstrate very high moral ethics which are way beyond their personal interest and earning money. So far, people perceive that police job is just to build good political nexus and earn money. Visit any SHO house, you will see assests worth of crore of rupees though income is not even few lakhs per year.

To get this in place, we need to take steps from recruitment stage to on-going moral ethics coaching for police personnel. Just having good marks, excellent physical fitness, being SC/ST/backward cast and political backing is not enough w/o moral ethics to get selected and perform police duty. This needs lot more courage and personal sacrifice from top police officers to bring a change in the system.
- Now the question comes, why police is ineffective?
a) In sufficient pay in today moving economy to survive is forcing them to find unethical means of earning money. To control this, police force need to be decently paid like Army and held accountable for their non-performance. Police force performance needs to professionally managed like private sector to ensure efficient delivery of police services to public. IT companies management/Execution is good role model to follow for this.
b) Our mental setup to forget our duty when our own are on other side. This is typically true even outside police force in India due to lack of professionalism and "Chalta Hai" attitude. We must ensure that at least in police force we have severe consequences if any lapse happen. I beleive we have rules/regulations, but no one is there to ensure their execution. Wen top itself is not right, who is going to check these lapses? To fix this, we need few more hands like Kiran Bedi.

c) Police Chief (CEO) should function as an independent body and not to report to any CM/Home Minister who drives their own party agenda while being in power. Basically, police executives should have power and ability to say "No" to wrong decisions and drive their force in right direction.

I do not beleive that having less police personnel is the cause of police being ineffective. We can't have 100 million police personnel for 100 million population. Police needs to build it own Aura/image which can control things w/o their physical presence by demonstrating high moral ethics and human values while being on the duty.

Source(s):

Personal experience and thoughts

Answer 18

Respected Madam,

You asked such a question that has been striking in my mind for a long time and i really wanted to have an open disscussion over the topic. The liability of police department is to maintain law and order in the society, but in today's scenario we see that most of the rules and laws are being broken by the police force of our country. All because of extreem interfearence of political parties in the system.

I suggesst that the whole system should become a saperate entity and should be controled by a legislatory body defining the rules and regulations of the police force. And if possible this lagislatory body should directly report to the supreem court without the interfearence of any political party.

Secondly, the recruitment system is heavily corrupted, so the recruitment system should be improved either by creating new parameters of recruitment or by modifing the old ones. Because ultimately the police force is made up of the candidates recruited. So if our input is good, our output will definately be good.

One more thing that I want to mention is that the entire police system should become transparent. What I mean is that the procedures, the interrogations and the investigations all should be transparent. Because in democracy no-one has a right to hide any kind of information that has a general relevance. By doing this the threat of misguiding by any body will be reduced and the law and order will be maintained at a greater extent. So I think to maintain democracy and to maintain law and order transparency in the system is must.

So according me those were some measures that should be taken into account to make the police force more accountable to citizens.

thanx and JAI HIND

Source(s):

pesonal opinion

Answer 19

A good rapport has to develop between the police and public. This can only come about if the police personnel of a particular station belongs to that area, localise the personnel.

No matter what his qualification, the 'bedside manners' that are displayed when in contact with the public, is most atrocious. Rudeness and vulgarity are the features of a strong officer.

Politics has become part and parcel of the force, whose personnel are reporting to a minister, who has no respect for their officers, and who has not seen active service anywhere. Orders are given purely on political considerations, and not on ground realities.

Answer 20

Corruption must be eradicated by measures like installing complaint boxes for peolle to drop their complaint letters and strict warning must be given to this officers.
presure to police by poticians must be reduced because these politicians use the police against the common man ,the police who are for the welfare of the community
anti corruption bureau's must be set up to check bribery practised by police.
corruption is the root problem, if it is solved half the problems are over.
. The training of police forces should be standardized like that of Indian army. A spirit of nationality should be aroused in the young aspirers in the graduate level itself so that the student will become a responsible Police officer.
It will take time for the development of Indian Police just the right time is to come and then every child will start to asprire to be policeman.

Answer 21

Influnce from politicians &orders from localm political Goondas must be stopped instead local people's gaoverning body should be created to give advices to polices ,also educated people should come forward to educate police

Answer 22

we need to create a kiran bedi in every mind,body and soul and this will come only if we , youngsters (whether police/civilians) are aware of our duties more than our rights.(i mean to say that we should learn and prepare our mind to serve and not to give priority to the gains weshould have from any task done by us.

Answer 23

put out all the corrupt officers and policemen and teach them the right meaning of humanity and not to boss over when in uniform as because of this the people have lost faith in them as corruptiuon prevails over them and they are slaves before corrupt people because of their habit of bribery

Answer 24

Today the job of the police is very appreciable.but some of the police officers dont bother the people society that they dont accept the people's problem.Very low police officers can take the problems of the peole.They get bribe and turn the gain to the some of the milliners.We make the police forces accountable to citizens as every police officers can take their job as our eyes.they are the second mother.and the head of the police may give lot of opportunities.but this is the risk joband this the best and super for me.one information is that when the monsters are destroyed really the earth will look like a another heaven of the god.

Answer 25

The police force, which is under the exploitation of the ruling parties in all of our states, should come under direct control of the Election Commision of India. Through this, I have a staunch feeling that no individual culprit from High to Low,Rich to poor,and other who are guilty,shall not go scotfree.

Answer 26

THE RULES IN LAW AND ORDER ARE HARD.
but the essence of the involvement of the act should not collapse.

Answer 27

First of all we should stop filmmakers from showing the bad things about police department, cause of films even small children do not fear the police. Next the police should have a good physique, usually most of the police officers are pot bellied and hence we feel they hardly do any work at all. And last teach children to respect police at school level. Only the next generation may be able to think better about the police.

Answer 28

1.provide them special powers ,so that they were not bound to political leaders
2.make separate branch to provide security for influenced person and separate police forces from them
3.make separate commity to look after transfer issues with out the interferance of politicians like election commity or judiciary
4.give more powers to lokayukta as in karnataka
5.try to fullfill the needs ,

Answer 29

THE POLICE SHOULD DEAL IN A COOPERATING $ FRIENDLY WAY WITH CITIZENS AND TO HELP POLICE IN INVESTIGATION ,PEOPLE SHOULD ALSO COOPERATE.WE SHOULD ALSO UNDERSTAND CONDITIONS OF POLICEMEN TOILING HARD UNDER STRESS.

Answer 30

*first of all they should underline in their minds that they are there to serve the people and not harm them .
*secondly they should stop themselves form earning money by any unusual means.
*they think that as a part of the system of law ,they aresuperior to others and forget that they are servers of public. because of this they forget to respect others.
they really need to learn to respect others.

Source(s):

yahooanswers.com

Answer 31

Every indivisdual should be made secure from inside,make them feel human,teach them what is disciplen,they should be keep a side from power,they should be able to differnciate between right&wrong,they should be trained as good listener,these are small points every policeman should learn only than they can serve better, police department can do so much,we in india are very afraid to go to police because there is nohearing of common people of the country,this is because police department works only for power ,they do not serve common people, so pl keep serving common man ,i think u will do much improvement.