E-Paper
The shadow falls between precept and practice
On many occasions, an officer on his first assignment in the field is brusquely told by his immediate superior to forget all the fancy notions of equality before law and shunning third degree etc., as fast as possible. Improvements in police training can just not succeed in bringing about the desired changes in police functioning as long as the political executive and the police leadership do not resolutely ensure that there is no gap between precept and practice.
On many occasions, an officer on his first assignment in the field is brusquely told by his immediate superior to forget all the fancy notions of equality before law and shunning third degree etc., as fast as possible.
Improvements in police training can just not succeed in bringing about the desired changes in police functioning as long as the political executive and the police leadership do not resolutely ensure that there is no gap between precept and practice.
One shortcoming however, frequently comes to notice in police training institutions. Recruits tend to see their teachers as role models to be emulated.
The governments and the police chiefs should, therefore, spare the best and brightest officers for posting in training institutions. But mostly, they send to training institutions only such officers who cannot be adjusted anywhere else.
Consequently, over the years, a posting in a training institution has come to be considered as a punishment posting.
The police organisation is a hierarchical structure in which subordinates are trained to obey the legal orders of their superior officers.
The officers evaluate the performance of their subordinates, determine their suitability for promotion and decide about rewards and punishments. Policing is basically a team activity. Normally, the captain of a team has an important say not only in the composition of the team but also in the roles assigned to each player. However, these days the officers who are responsible for police performance at the police station, the district level (or for that matter even the State level) hardly have an effective say in these matters and most decisions (at times even the operational decisions) are taken by the political executive.
The days of single party rule are over and there are coalition governments at the centre and in many states. Vote of every individual legislator assumes a disproportionate importance in coalition governments. Many a time the political executive has to give in to blatant blackmail by a single legislator and pass unjust and illegal orders at his behest.
Such interventions have now become a little too common and have made the command and control structure of the police department altogether ineffective.
Can even the commander render a flawless job when he is neither allowed to have an effective say in the selection of his team nor to evaluate his performance?
Is it not totally unfair to blame the captain for poor performance of the team when many of the players have secured a place in the team not on merit but through their influence.
Such patrons also ensure that, howsoever, poor be the performance (or past record) of their protectees’ they would not be removed from important charges which the patrons had got them.
It is common knowledge that frequently notoriously corrupt officials with consistently poor records of service not only manage to get undeserved promotions but succeed in getting coveted posts. The political executive claims to derive all his powers over the police from the Police Act which has vested the power of ‘ superintendence’ over the police force in the State Government(s).
