The recent killing of Officers and Constables of UP Police is not the first time that the police has been attacked by powerful goons in India. It has happened many times in past when powerful criminals have challenged the Police officers, even at the level of DGP, for instance, police officers like Bihar ex-DGP DP Ojha in early 2000s. The same man had carried out murderous attacks on the then SP and his police team in the 1990s. So, this is nothing new to India, especially in the States of UP and Bihar.

It is the same police force that is charged with conniving with criminals, custodial killings, harassing common men, engaging in corruption, not filing and acting on the FIRs and many more such malpractices. Current massacre of our Policemen is also a result of connivance with criminals.

To handle both, to safeguard and empower the Force and to safeguard citizens, we need to make fundamental changes in the system immediately. These are not very time consuming reforms but some easy to do changes to modernise and make it a Humane and effective force.

Many political regimes have come and gone in the States but nothing has changed at the ground level. Things remained largely unchanged due to the simple reason that just a regime change, and some office orders and tough posturing by new chief ministers is not enough. If this would have worked, then surely we would have seen better conditions during the tenures of good administrators in UP such as Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh and now Yogi Adityanath and even Nitish Kumar in Bihar.

There are other law enforcement and investigative agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) which are extremely professional and above board due to their structure, training and recruitment of the right talent.

Reforms in the Police force are long pending. What is required is a systemic change to stem the rot. We need complete overhaul of policing activity, so that it works to deliver its mandate of maintaining law and order in the state and giving confidence to the citizens while protecting itself from the kind of bloodbath that we recently saw in UP.

Following is needed on urgent basis:

• Introduction and use of technology at all levels – use of CCTV cameras across all its offices, Police Stations and Police Posts to empower the Force and enable it to discharge its role in a more transparent and accountable manner. The CCTV footage should be centrally recorded for a month or so and randomly monitored using manual and AI resources.
• Regular online and offline training of all Police personnel to sensitise them regarding the meaning and purpose of Policing and instil in them the need to be humane and devoted to the purpose. This can be done online through convenient e-modules but with proper assessment and evaluation at the end of each module.
• Police force must have an attitude to understand and solve the problem since most citizens approaching the police for help and intervention are victims of crimes, frauds and other atrocities and deserve to be helped and dealt with compassion.
• Making Police force financially self-sustainable, at least partially. Certain streams can be institutionalised such as share in traffic challans and financial penalties for other violations, charging on cost plus basis for the security provided to the Ministers and others. Such proceeds  should be deployed towards deploying better facilities for the Police personnel such as better pay, improved working conditions, revamped infrastructure at Police Stations and Police Posts, etc. .
• A Police - eminent Citizens committee should be formed to review the performance of Police force on a set of parameters.  This will be on the model of Independent Directors on the Boards of large Public sector companies, and will go a long way in delivering good governance.

Police-Criminal nexus is not unique and to India, it’s rampant across the world and has to be dealt with by sensitising the police personnel that the nexus comes to fore sooner or later. Such instances should be followed by exemplary punishment. This would deter others to fall for the lure that criminals offer. Proper hiring, training and continuous reminding of such realities will make the Police force a great catalyst for social change and will contribute hugely to the ‘New India’ envisioned by PM Narendra Modi for the country.

Police is a State subject. Such a life-impacting change can be initiated as a five-year program in phased manner through guidelines to the State Governments and subsequently ranking them on the basis of various parameters set by the Ministry of Home Affairs, in the same manner as Swachhata rankings given to states. This has the potential to bring about a huge social change and instil a sense of safety and confidence amongst the citizens of the country.

Today, we have 14 BJP-ruled states and 8 Union territories, which can implement these guidelines immediately and others will follow suit. These reforms are practical in nature and should not get stuck in the typical red-tape of our bureaucracy. These easy-to-implement reforms and will result in instant and long-term benefits to the society.

This kind of systemic reform will be our true Shradhanjali to the martyred policemen by ensuring no such incident occurs in future. This can happen under the stewardship of a Bold and Dynamic Home Minister like Shri Amit Shah and will change the course of the country.

Picture Credit: ANI News. Pic for representational purposes only and does not reflect a specific case.