Police Modernization is the only solution to tackle the complex problem of Internal Security

Today,police is facing different kind of challenges not only related to law and order but socio-political issues like controlling riots against the land acquisition,lack of development etc but the most important challenge among all is the terrorism because internal security is the primary responsibility of police in the state.Police has been provided different kind of tools and instruments for smooth and better functioning.World is changing at a rapid pace and as technology is advancing with a high growth,techniques of committing the crime is getting modern and technical.In midst of this, today police is feeling helpless in controlling these kind of henious crime.What can a policeman do if any terrorist is attacking on him with AK-47,while the policeman is using .303 rifle which has been outdated?How can a policeman find any terrorist who lives in the face of a common man and acting as a sleeping module because in that kind of situation,intelligence network should be very strong and strengthning the intelligence network capable of finding the sleeping modules and other type of terrorist activities,there is a need of good amount of fund which can only be provided by state government because police informer do not provide free service and he has to fulfill his basic needs.What can a policeman do who is travelling on a bicycle and suddenly any person opens fire at him and steal his gun?These questions needs a constructive answer which can only be given through “Police Modernization.”In Uttar Pradesh,condition of police jeeps are not good.Vehicles who carry prisoners are in a very bad condition and thank god that they are running.Riots Control Vehicles i.e “Vajra” are less in number.Policemen are still using .303 rifle which always makes them  feel unsafe.Some policemen are using Insaas Rifle but they are in Special Armed Forces like PAC(Provincial Armed Constabulary).Only some policemen are equipped with flak jackets(jackets which give them protection against bullets),only few policemen have riot shields otherwise most of the policemen control the riots without any protection,riot helmets are very less in number.There is a lack of innovative techniques in training.When I have visited the Police Lines,Lucknow then I got hurt by seeing the condition of control room.There is no facility for a policeman who was attending the calls,messages were continuously coming on the wireless.The policeman who was on duty was tired because no incentive has been provided to him.Only a single bed was kept there but if policeman took rest then who will be responsible for attending the calls?I think,you can imagine the condition of a policeman in the modern time.Police Modernization is the need of the hour and Uttar Pradesh Government urged the centre to provide 555 crore rupees for police modernization.Everybody knows that in Uttar Pradesh,government’s top priority is the construction of stone parks and the fund which is collected on the birthday of Chief Minister is used to bolster her defence.All the State Governments should always remember that,”Police is the mirror of Development.”

E-policing is an essential factor of police reforms in Uttar Pradesh

E-Policing is the transaction of services and information between the police and citizens via the internet.Uttar Pradesh Government strongly needs to introduce E-Policing in police department.Now,the questions arises that why Uttar Pradesh Government would have to step in for introducing this modern system of policing,why not the police department? Actually,E-Policing requires a lot of fund for infrastructure development,computerization of police stations,connecting the police stations with each other through internet which is a difficult task in rural areas,give effective training to policemen so that they are able to meet the challenges  of this modern function of police.In Uttar Pradesh,condition of police infrastructure is very bad which is the root cause of delay in police modernization.First of all,it is essential to make a effective strategy and  planning to introduce E-Policing in the state.Today,in Uttar Pradesh infrastructure of police stations is in very bad condition.Lack of electricity supply,poor condition of furniture,lack of accommodation facilities,lack of basic services are the big hurdles in the way of introducing E-Policing.After that,computerization of all the 1458 police stations and providing the fund for maintainance of computer systems is the second task which the government would have to finish to introduce E-Policing.Third task is to provide accessibility of internet services to all the police stations and this task will only be finished when  when all the police stations are connected with each other through internet.Fourth task is to provide computer education to our policemen and make them trained to handle this kind of challenge.Fifth task is to provide the directives to all the District Police Chiefs(DPCs) to make the website of District Police in which all the information related to district would be stored and the sixth and the most important task is to make the police department accountable.The time has arrived,when the Uttar Pradesh Government needs to spend more on police modernization instead of spending more and more on parks which are made up of stones.

Concept of E-policing

Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of law and order.In modern time,the functions of police has increased manifold which increased the workload on police department.Time is changing at a rapid pace and with the changing environment,there is a need to reform our institutions whether it is police department,judiciary,or anything else but police is the institution which affects every department in our country,so police reforms is the need of the hour.E-Policing is one the most important aspects of police reforms in the world of information technology.E-Policing is the way of bringing community policing to the internet.Community policing is the best way of getting people in confidence and involve them in intelligence sharing process because transparency develops trust between the two parties.Uttar Pradesh Police strongly needs to restore the confidence of people.E-Policing is a very effective tool of reducing the workload on police department. Online crime reporting allows the public to file police reports for some incidents and crimes via the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Police departments can retrieve these reports when police resources are available. This frees up patrol officers who would otherwise spend time tracking down these incidents.Benefits of E-Policing are that the reporting incidents does not require face-to-face contact and it provides better access to a common man living in rural and remote areas.It also reduces the fear to go to police station and file a complaint.It delivers 24/7 police services to people.It makes the police department modern and capable of competing with modern crime and it also reduces the paper work because now information will be stored in computer which ultimately secures our environment.It provides the ability to police department to schedule work more evenly through the day.It also improve linkages with local organizations and partners.E-Policing opens the new way of doing business for the police.E-Policing fosters two-way communication and provides better access for both the public and the police.In an overall perspective we can say that E-Policing signals that police are in synch with new technology, but there is also another factor which cannot be ignored.It is true that,E-policing expands our channels of communication through the Internet but it does not replace telephone or face-to-face contact, which remain important.                                                               

Behaviour is the most effective tool for police to win the confidence and develops trust among people

Behaviour is one of the five pillars of any organization.Today,good behaviour is the path of success for any organization.Behaviour is like a part of the uniform for police.Functioning of police reflects it’s behaviour.Police reforms are the basic need for the states because today police is doing a lot of work due to the rising expectations of people .Police orgazine  the marriage parties as a part of community policing,police manages the traffic for marriage parties,police solve the disputes between husband and wife,police is organizing camps in naxal affected areas and distributing free medicines,clothes etc.Today,police has to perform various functions,which affect it’s functioning  because there are several works which shouldn’t be performed by police but people come to police for every reason.In midst of this,behaviour plays a very crucial role in taking decisions by the police.But,Uttar Pradesh Police behaviour is becoming unfriendly and inhuman day by day,but how to behave with a common man is not the part of their training.Actually,police is acting according to the Indian Police Act,1861,in which only one kind of training is given to them i.e to maintain law and order.It is very disappointing that people do not want to go to police stations because they do not know,in which manner policeman will treat them? Actually,the environment in which police is working is also the cause of the problem but it doesn’t mean that the policeman behaves with everyone like a criminal.Policeman also comes from the same society where we live,then why a sudden change happens after wearing a uniform and policeman behaves like a dictator.Number of rape cases has increased in recent days in Uttar Pradesh.Police is involved in almost in every crime.It is a game for the police to make an innocent person accused of committing a crime.Police acts as a servant for MLAs,MPs,Businessmen but they feel  shameful and uncomfortable in providing a service of goodness to a common man.Policeman does half of his duty not for the service of the common man,but for the service of politicians,businessmen and other high profile personalities.What can I say about IPS Officers,who do a lot of hard work for becoming a Civil Servant of country,but everyone can see most of the IPS Officers are irresponsible,do not want to make a faithful relationship with a common man.Meeting with SP/SSP of DIG or IG is really a very challenging task for a common man bcoz generally they are busy in personal meetings or on official duty.If a victim is going to meet DGP,then you can imagine that no action has been taken by SHO,CO,ASP,SP,DIG and IG bcoz at last when victim loses hope then he/she go to DGP.

Method of developing the mutual trust between police and people.

  If we do the work in a systematic  manner and in an organized way,then it definitely lead to success.Every week,a meeting should be organized at every police station in which SHO listen to the problems of local people because this kind of activity develops the trust between police and people and when people visit the police station,then it reduces the fear in their mind of getting insulted and assaulted which generally happens at police station.Videography should be a prior condition for these kind of meetings.Afterthat,every SHO should report to his Circle Officer(CO) and in every 15 days,a meeting should organized between CO and SHOs .Then,the conference of Circle Officers should be organized on first day of every month,which will be presided by the Superintendent of Police/Senior Superintendent of Police.Afterthat,SP/SSP,DIG and IGP should meet together and make a joint report which reveals the problem of and progress of controlling the crime in the respective district.This  joint report will be sent to DGP and DGP will explain the government about the needs of policemen and other matters.I know,this kind of activity will increase the workload of DGP,so for this particular kind of activity an officer of the rank of ADG should be appointed who make a detailed study of the report and then explain every aspect to DGP which will finally go to Chief Minister Secretariate.Now,the government has the responsibility of making the report public,so that people come to know that if their concerns are included in that report or not? It will make our system transparent and effective.

An IPS Officer should understand his responsibility towards people instead of his political boss.

It looks very attractive when a person is travelling in a car bearing blue beacon,a flag on the bonnet and stars denoting their rank but the IPS Officer who is sitting inside the car is understanding his responsibility towards people or not,nobody knows that.Character of the team reflect the qualities of the leader.Today,very few people know the face of their District Police Chief,because DPC have no accountability towards Government,aam aadmi.When DPC does patrolling in his area,then it sends the message of feeling of belongingness.DPCs are very busy in their work becaue they are the Captains of the police force of their respective districts but then how it becomes possible that some DPCs do more patrolling,pay more attention towards public grievances,take more meetings of their subordinates to make them people friendly,actually it is only the difference in a student who get passing marks and a student who get  honours in the exam.

Sometimes police acts as GOD and most of the times it acts as dangerous than EVIL

Some days ago,when my class was going on then our teacher of Public Administration asked the full form of POLICE,then one student said that ‘P’ for POLITE and ‘O’ for OBEDIENT,and at this point our teacher laughed and said ok.At that time i was also laughing but i thought people still knows that full form which generally doesn’t exist today.Actually,our politicians always try to maintain the polite image of police in their speeches but they know police is only polite towards politicians,not towards aam aadmi for whom police should serve as a GOD.Actually,policemen don’t understand the feelings of victim of crime because they wear uniform due to which they always keep themselves above from the aam aadmi,they have the power to insult the victim because they are sitting at that position where the actual meaning of word CRIME  lies and when policemen get insulted by Senior Police Officers then they abuse their officers,at that time they don’t think that one day they have insulted the common man who came to them with a lot of hope and belief.Today,the uniform of faith,belief,service becomes the uniform of arrogance,mistrust and dominance.Today,IPS Officers become the symbol of Autocracy only because of the loose control of our government.But,I must say police still acts as a God for them who have seen the kind face of policeman in their life.

People friendly working system in police department.

Today,people hesitate to go to police stations to register an FIR but this problem can be resolved in an easy manner.The fact of the matter is that,gap of mistrust between police and people can be only filled when the interaction takes place between aam aadmi and policeman and the best place for this is police station but it is very shameful that the environment of police station is horrible and aam aadmi doesn’t want to enter in a place full of suspicion and mistrust but if every district police start to register an FIR online then this problem can be solved up to some extent.For this,District Police Chiefs(DPCs) have to take the step forward and make their district police intelligent and active in making use of Information Technology but for this the computerization of all the police stations is must and their should be own website of every DPC,so that DPC are enable to look into the matter because effective monitoring is very essential in this matter.Accountability  must be fixed for every SHO that his police station is responding to every complaint in an effective and friendly manner.But,here again the most important role would be played by State Governments.

Modernization of police vehicles.

Today,Uttar Pradesh Police vehicles are in a very bad condition.Most of the police vehicles are not properly coloured,they have a rust on them,if blue lights are destroyed then there is no concern to repair them,lack of riots control vehicles,system fitted inside the vehicle are getting old,police vehicles carrying prisoners are on the stage of getting expired.It is very shameful for the state government that it don’t have a fund for modernizing their political instrument,it clearly shows that police modernization is totally out of agenda of State Government.Infact,every Police Jeep should be equipped with GPS,so that when any person call police, then that person should be enable to know the position of police vehicle and the number of police officer who is going on the spot should be given to that person,because everybody knows our police is very very slow in reaching the destination of crime,yes I agree that lack of police personnels is a major cause of this problem but this problem can be solved.Increasing the number of police personnels is a first step towards police reforms.

Reality of Police Patrolling in the area where i live.

Number of days of police patrolling in my area

Date                                    Time                        Police Vehicles

4^th Jan,2011                       12:12 am                 Police Jeep (Blue and Red lights were turned on during patrolling)

5^th Jan,2011                       12:05 am                 Police jeep (Blue and Red lights were turned on during patrolling)

6^th Jan,2011                       12:35 am                 Police jeep (Blue and Red lights were turned off during patrolling)

7^th Jan,2011                       12:26 am                 Police jeep (Blue and Red lights were turned off during patrolling)

8^th Jan,2011                       1:45 am                   Police jeep (Blue and Red lights were turned off during patrolling)

8^th Jan,2011                       11:49 pm                Bike Patrolling

9^th Jan,2011                       12:30 am                Police jeep (Blue and red lights were turned off during patrolling)

17^th Jan,2011                     12:20 am                Police jeep (Blue and Red lights were turned off during patrolling)

19^th Jan,2011                     12:32 am                Police jeep (Blue and Red lights were turned on during patrolling)

Interesting note: From 1^st to 10^th January,2011,Lucknow was covered with dense fog  and between 1^st and 10^th january,police has patrolled the area for six consecutive days.Generally,police patrolling is conducted between 12:00 am and 1:00 am and most of the crimes are committed between 1:00 am to 3:00 am.