Modernisation of police force
Sunday, 21 October 2007
THE efficiency level of police does often come under scrutiny in the context of law and order situation in the country. Studies though have identified the presence of widespread corruption as the leading cause of poor performance on the part of police, there are other reasons, including poor compensation package, inadequate manpower strength, insufficient logistics etc., that have forced the police to perform well below their potentials.
So far as corruption is concerned, reduction of its intensity at all levels remains a national priority. One cannot expect to free the police force from the vice in isolation. Nor chasing the perceived or real corrupt ones in the past will make those who are still in active service, clean if the police administration is not revamped organisationally. Such revamping has to be a part of a broader national goal that, however, cannot be achieved overnight. But the government can improve the situation with police in areas of logistics, manpower, work-environment and service benefits. There is no denying that police in this country are poorly equipped and do not have modern technological support to perform better. In police stations and other offices, police are still dependent on manual record keeping and it takes a lot of time to trace out criminal records of suspects in this age of advanced information and communications technology. Computers are hardly found in police stations and important offices of the police administration and, in most cases, police officials are computer illiterate. While it takes minutes for the police in developed and some developing countries to find out criminal records of suspects, our policemen spend weeks or months to accomplish the similar jobs.
It is, however, heartening to know that the government, though belated, has taken steps to computerise the police operations under a crash programme. About 2000 police officials have been already given training on computer operation. The police administration, reportedly, has made computer training mandatory even for police constables. Besides, in the initial phase, a total of 105 police stations would have their own computers. It seems that installation of computers in all the police stations and other police offices and imparting training on computer operations to all the police personnel would take some more time. But the authorities concerned would have to take special care about the proper application of computers since the same in most government offices have remained mere decorative pieces.
Moreover, computers can be very helpful in keeping records of the convicted as well suspected criminals and disseminating information at the local and international levels almost instantly. What the police administration would need is proper networking which might necessitate substantial financial investment. But compared to possible benefits, such investment would be a worthwhile exercise. Some donors might also be interested to provide finance to such projects. It would not be that difficult even for the police constables who are at least secondary school certificate holders to pick up computer operation. The police with a fully computer literate manpower and a proper computer network will be able to do wonders in combating crime, provided they are motivated enough to perform their duties and responsibilities honestly and sincerely. But modernisation is unlikely to help achieve the desired results if the government does not address other problems that have kept the police morale low.
So far as corruption is concerned, reduction of its intensity at all levels remains a national priority. One cannot expect to free the police force from the vice in isolation. Nor chasing the perceived or real corrupt ones in the past will make those who are still in active service, clean if the police administration is not revamped organisationally. Such revamping has to be a part of a broader national goal that, however, cannot be achieved overnight. But the government can improve the situation with police in areas of logistics, manpower, work-environment and service benefits. There is no denying that police in this country are poorly equipped and do not have modern technological support to perform better. In police stations and other offices, police are still dependent on manual record keeping and it takes a lot of time to trace out criminal records of suspects in this age of advanced information and communications technology. Computers are hardly found in police stations and important offices of the police administration and, in most cases, police officials are computer illiterate. While it takes minutes for the police in developed and some developing countries to find out criminal records of suspects, our policemen spend weeks or months to accomplish the similar jobs.
It is, however, heartening to know that the government, though belated, has taken steps to computerise the police operations under a crash programme. About 2000 police officials have been already given training on computer operation. The police administration, reportedly, has made computer training mandatory even for police constables. Besides, in the initial phase, a total of 105 police stations would have their own computers. It seems that installation of computers in all the police stations and other police offices and imparting training on computer operations to all the police personnel would take some more time. But the authorities concerned would have to take special care about the proper application of computers since the same in most government offices have remained mere decorative pieces.
Moreover, computers can be very helpful in keeping records of the convicted as well suspected criminals and disseminating information at the local and international levels almost instantly. What the police administration would need is proper networking which might necessitate substantial financial investment. But compared to possible benefits, such investment would be a worthwhile exercise. Some donors might also be interested to provide finance to such projects. It would not be that difficult even for the police constables who are at least secondary school certificate holders to pick up computer operation. The police with a fully computer literate manpower and a proper computer network will be able to do wonders in combating crime, provided they are motivated enough to perform their duties and responsibilities honestly and sincerely. But modernisation is unlikely to help achieve the desired results if the government does not address other problems that have kept the police morale low.