Mains 2016: Police (law and order) – Problems and Reforms: In a Nutshell

Police in India face multiple challenges in maintaining law and order like riots, terrorism, insurgency in north east and J&K, left wing extremism etc.

Problems in Police (Law and Order in general):

• Problems related to general administration
  1. Poor enforcement of laws and general failure of administration;
  2. Large gap between aspirations of the people and opportunities with resultant deprivation and alienation; and
  3. Lack of coordination between various government agencies.
• Problems related to police
  1. Problems of organisation, infrastructure and environment;
  2. Unwarranted political interference;
  3. Lack of empowerment of the cutting edge functionaries;
  4. Lack of motivation at the lower levels due to poor career prospects, and hierarchical shackles;
  5. Lack of modern technology/methods of investigation;
  6. Obsolete intelligence gathering techniques and infrastructures; and
  7. Divorce of authority from accountability.
• Problems of organisational behaviour;
  1. Inadequate training; and
  2. Entrenched attitudes of arrogance, insensitivity and patronage.
• Problems of stress due to overburdening;
  1. Multiplication of functions, with crime prevention and investigation taking a back seat;
  2. Shortage of personnel and long working hours; and
  3. Too large a population to handle.
• Problems related to ethical functioning;
  1. Corruption, collusion and extortion at different levels;
  2. Insensitivity to human rights; and
  3. Absence of transparent recruitment and personnel policies.
• Problems related to prosecution;
  1. Best talent not attracted as public prosecutors;
  2. Lack of coordination between the investigation and the prosecution agencies; and
  3. Mistrust of police in admitting evidence.
• Problems related to the judicial process/criminal justice administration
  1. Large pendency of cases;
  2. Low conviction rates.

Reforms:

1. Subsidiarity:The police are highly centralized at the state level yet need both centralization (empowering the union investigative agencies for such issues as terrorism) as well as decentralization(at the local government level such as traffic police).
2. Autonomy: The police require greater autonomy from pernicious political control.
3. Accountability: Greater autonomy needs to be complemented by investments in accountability, such as the creation of independent supervisory boards.
4. Personnel: Recruitment of more staffs and training system needs to be improved especially at lower level.
5. Resources: Change will not be possible without increasing the resources available for police, especially at the station house, or thana, level.
6. Directions of Supreme Court in Prakash Singh case need to be implemented in letter and spirit.
7. Reforms in Criminal Justice System are required. Problems in Police (law and order) are intrinsically related to judiciary. Without reforming the judiciary the reforms in police would have little impact at the ground level.

This Article is a part of ForumIAS Mains 2016 Initiative. For a list of all articles that will be published on ForumIAS Portal for Mains, visit https://forumias.com/portal/mains2016