Bihar segregates cops for law & order, investigation; practical problems remain

The state now claims to have segregated work among its personnel at all its 925 police stations and 250 outposts--all the data is available online with the police headquarters

Bihar may have finally been able to divide its police force into two separate wings on paper, but the situation is far from ideal on the ground. The 2013 policy, coming into effect eight years later, aims at making policing more efficient with personnel at every police station either involved only in investigation of cases or in handling law & order.

Representational Image. (HT archive)

The state now claims to have segregated work among its personnel at all its 925 police stations and 250 outposts--all the data is available online with the police headquarters.

Announced in 2013, the policy aims to streamline functioning so that investigation, now done by a dedicated team, will stand the scrutiny of the court. “A dedicated team for investigation of cases will mean they will not be saddled with routine law & order duty,” said a senior police officer.

The move, which faced hiccups since it was announced (mostly due to lack of personnel), will reduce pendency of cases, and the two wings will improve the security mechanism. “In case of a crime, while one team maintain law & order at the spot, the other begins investigation,” said a senior IPS officer.

However, on the ground, the state severely lacks the necessary strength in the force. This has also forced the home department to tweak the proportion of personnel for either duty. “Initially, 50% of the strength in police station was to be devoted to law & order duty and the remaining 50% to investigation. But due to a lack of required strength, it will now be 75% for investigation and 25% for law & order. This can still change as per requirement,” said an official of home department.

Bihar still has just 80,000 policemen per 100,000 population against the required 140,000. The government is recruiting more personnel -- last month alone, 17,000 personnel were recruited. But the process is time-taking, and the requirement might not be fulfilled anytime soon. Once the ongoing drive ends, the strength is likely to be around 100,000.

Meanwhile, the lack of strength is already showing. Sonepur police station, for instance, which is at the junction of four districts -- Patna, Vaishali, Saran and Muzaffarpur -- has just three policemen for law & order duty. “As a result, we have to deploy our officers dedicated to investigation for law & order duty also, as it covers a whole lot duties, viz. VIP movement, road blockades, traffic jams, crime, and conduct of exams. Three-four policemen are required just for VIP movement,” said another police officer.

In Saran, the Bhagwanbazaar police station registers 90 criminal cases every month on an average, but it has just nine police personnel and this impacts investigation. In Danapur police station of Patna, there were 13 personnel dedicated to investigation, only three for law & order duty. “Though the area does not have much of a law & order problem, the officers dedicated for it will never pitch in for investigation and it does not come under their mandate. These are some of the practical difficulties. Those exclusively for investigation also have to maintain a case diary for production in courts. So we cannot deploy our personnel as per the requirement anymore,” said an officer posted there.

Additional director general (law&order) Amit Kumar said all the details regarding posting of policemen for law & order duty and investigation were with the police headquarters and the progress was being monitored. “In every police station, one station house officer (SHO) and two additional SHOs have been deployed -- one each for law & order, and investigation. Eventually, even the superintendent of police and deputy inspector general offices will have separate sections. There are 4,775 sub-inspectors (SIs) for investigation, while 2,254 are for law & order duty in the state. The strength will further go up with the induction of 1,600 newly recruited SIs,” he added.