A Force for the Future

Context: Rising custodial deaths and encounter killing points toward the need for addressing the factors that affect police functioning.

Factors Affecting Police Functioning

• Police academies: Training at the lower rung of police at the state level uses strong-arm tactics that date back to the colonial era.
• Recruitment procedure: at the lower levels of the force, is based only on the test of the candidate’s physical agility.
• Duration of training: at lower levels of forces (inspector-level: 1 year, constable: 9 months) is less than that of IPS officer (2 years).
•  Quality of training: varies according to states and lower-level forces receive only basic training for field challenges.
• Human rights issues are not an essential part of their training. 
• Only a few states have in-service training for lower-level forces.
• Long working hours: of 10 to 16 hours, seven days a week which adversely affects the health of police officers.
• Lack of resources and technology: as per “Status of Policing in India Report 2019”:
• 70 police stations across 20 states do not have wireless facilities.
• 214 police stations do not have a telephone. 
• More than 40% of police stations cannot access forensic technology.

Way Forward

• Address the infrastructural and organisational issues of the policing system.
• Evolve a National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for police education and training, based on the discussions at different levels — universities, NPA, and the society itself. 

Conclusion: A progressive and democratic society and an aspiring economic superpower cannot be policed by a regressive system.