A professional understanding of police invokes the ideas of safety of an individual and an ordered society. But here the routine understanding of police has undergone an unwelcome change. Its role in the present crisis that Kashmir is still going through has come in for a serious criticism from general public and the human rights groups as well. Even the State and Union governments have made confessions to the effect. The result is that problem and police are seen on one side of the fence with the public on the other!  With the amount of excesses heaping and police been increasingly seen as following a wrong track, it is felt that even a section of the police force have become uncomfortable in such circumstances. Being seen as an oppressive body is bound to impact the individual psyche of police personnel. The very image of police, which played the role of a non-actor in the initial stages of armed rebellion here, has been largely damaged by the eruption of such conditions; those in the police who are at the helm of affairs are but responsible for not saving this force from getting painted black in these circumstances. This is how the police’s image has got tarnished almost beyond repair. Police’s transition from a people-friendly to a people-adversary image is painful and traumatic for any conscious society. Today people’s trust in police is at the lowest ebb. Hundreds, nay thousands of cases of crimes like thefts, burglaries, car-lifting and murders have remained unsolved even after years of their committal. With the economic destabilization in the region crimes are on the rise and police’s failure to prevent such crimes has made people to develop a genuine scare and sense of insecurity. There are instances where the needles of suspicion for various crimes including car thefts have unfortunately shown a swing of complicity towards the personnel of this department. In as far as crime investigation is concerned the very approach of police is seen as casual and lackadaisical. The methods used by police for investigation are obsolete and it is in the rarest of rare that such methods can crack the crimes. It is but natural that the success rate of solving cases of crimes is low. This is one aspect of how this department has harmed itself by not upgrading the methods and properly employing the modern day policing facilities. The other is more disturbing. There is a public feeling that the knowledge of police about the criminals far exceeds its action against crime. This incongruity engenders serious doubts and bruises the public face of this department. It’s a serious concern which the department officials must look into with equal seriousness. A vibrant and efficient police force is all important for the peace, safety, and order of the society. As such it would be in the larger interests of the State and the society that due attention is given to make it efficient in crime prevention and investigation. In a situation where deteriorating economic conditions may lead to more crimes in foreseeable future, it’s very important that police enhances its professional capacity and public image. As a necessary detour, it is important to mention here that the community leaders shall be doing a great service to the society if they do not allow the situation to drift beyond a certain point and try to steer the society in right direction. They shall try everything at their command to prevent the obtaining situation from getting converted into a class war for which some elements and agencies are trying hard in a sinister way. In this scenario when police is most needed for fighting crime the talk of replacement of armed forces and Para militaries by police, as by now the police force has grown horizontally as well as vertically, must be looked into painstakingly. In its new avatar the police have been increasingly getting accused of human rights violations and this might be gratifying for some agencies, but its fallout is definitely going to be disastrous for the State. We have had the examples of horror in the past years when police was employed for such things which it was not meant for.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST