Chief Minister’s Law and Order review meeting is like a slow poison

On 23^rd March,2011,Chief Minister Mayawati has chaired another review meeting regarding the situation of Law and Order in the state.It is not the first time when the top bureaucrats of all the districts of Uttar Pradesh have gathered in Lucknow to know their act of shame.Everytime,the Chief Minister say them to pull up their socks but bureaucrats are now become habitual to listen these kind of warnings and these kind of directions are like the fruit juice which they take in their breakfast.Is the Law and Order Review meeting fulfilling it’s purpose?Do the bureaucrats follow the principles of bureaucracy i.e neutrality,anonymity,impersonality ?Is the Chief Minister really bothers about the current situation of Law and Order in the State?Actually,what I understand is that these kind of meetings are acting like a slow poison for the peace and security of the State.In the first year of BSP’S Rule in the state,when the Chief Minister chaired these kind of meetings,then the police used to be active the day before the meeting was held and patrolling was also intensified in the state capital but now I do not see any alertness or activeness on the day before the meeting was held.Earlier,when the Chief Minister chaired the meeting of Commissioners,DMs,SPs,DIGs,IGs,then they had fear in their mind regarding the consequences they could face but now the Chief Minister has only one statement to say that,”Do improve your working style or be  ready to face the consequences.Is this statement really matters a lot for those officers? Now,every post in the Uttar Pradesh Police comes under the shadow of political ambition.People understand that the Government of Uttar Pradesh is not serious about tackling the crime in the State and now they will have to pray to their god to get justice because police has been failed to enact the Rule of Law in the State and the Chief Minister also equally responsible for that.Senior Police Officers are getting strong and becoming dictators by these kind of meetings and the crime graph is heading towards peak point,so the Chief Minister will have to think any other option to make these officers accountable,responsible and committed towards eradicating the crime from the State.

Future of Uttar Pradesh Police lies in darkness.

Uttar Pradesh is descending into chaos.Uttar Pradesh Police has adopted the ideology of the State Government.Many IPS Officers are only serving their political bosses and the rest are careless and insensitive towards controlling the rising number of criminal incidents in the state.Yet,there are few honest IPS Officers who do not compromise on their principles but they are posted in that departments which are ineffective and are lacking in resources..Today,IPS Officers are busy on facebook rather then go on field to know the ground reality but on papers they are very dedicated to bridge the gap between police and people are they are committed to eradicate the crime against women and weaker sections of society.Some months earlier,the DGP of Uttar Pradesh has advised the Officers not to spend their working time on facebook and fulfill their responsibility towards the common man but it is known to all that the order and advise of the Chief Minister and DGP has no importance at all and officers do what they want? It is very shameful and disappointing.From May 2007 to January 2009,the situation of Law and Order in the Uttar Pradesh was not bad and the government is keeping a close watch on the working pattern of IPS Officers and review meetings were held on the regular basis and the overall performance was good but in the February,2009,the Chief Minister has taken a decision to remove the post of Zonal IGs and replaced the SSPs/SPs of 8 Mahanagars with the Officers of the Rank of DIG.This decision has completely deteriorated the situation of Law and Order in the State.Former DGP VIkram Singh who has done a commendable job, has submitted the report that this system is worsening the present situation and should be roll back immediately but we all know that the police is a means of achieving political ambitions,so the Chief Minister has rejected the recommendation of the then DGP.But,recently the Government has created the Uttar Pradesh Police NCR Zone which is comprising of seven ranges but the time will tell that will it be able to give the desired result? Today,if the criminals are living in a luxurious condition in the State,then the State Government is also equally responsible for that because political leadership can make the police stronger and effective than any other agency in the State.In May 2008,Thana Diwas was introduced with the objective of bridging the gap between the police and aam aadmi and also to motivate the people to come to police stations to register the FIR,but that objective was completely failed because SHO and other concerning officers were not interested to present at the Thana Diwas.As we know that DPCs has to be present between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm in the morning to hear the complaints of the people but the IPS Officers are the Bureaucrats i.e “NaukarShah”,so why do they hear complaints from the aam aadmi? Due to several legitimate concerns,people are not able to trust our policemen and do not want to cooperate that clearly shows the lack of participation and on the other hand police administration want to keep distance from the aam aadmi which clearly shows the lack of penetration,so the Uttar Pradesh Police Administration is on the way of becoming the worst police force in the country.

                                                                                               Sometimes I feel that how will I be able to forge a consensus among the people on police reforms? How will I be able to make people understand that let us trust our policeman? How will I be able to say some words in the favour of Uttar Pradesh Police if this situation continues for a long period? But,what can I do except being an optimistic?

Uttar Pradesh Police desperately needs the mental revolution

Uttar Pradesh Police is on the top of the violation of the Human Rights in the country.As a state Uttar Pradesh is the top fake encounter specialist in the country with 716 fake encounters cases registered at National Human Rights Commission from the state in the last 16 years (1993-2009).No other state in the country has entered three-digit figure.I know that it is not necessary that every case which has been registered in NHRC would be a fake encounter but this kind of artificial bravery should not be acceptable at all.It is the time of introspection for the Government and the police, that what kind of example they are trying to set among the people in the state? Today,everyone is raising a finger  towards the Uttar Pradesh Police for their lack of integrity,lack of capacity to track criminal cases on time,lack of strong intelligence network in the state,lack of institutional respect among people etc.Actually,neither the government nor the police is able to explain the reason of the failure of law and order in the state.Working system of police reflects the mental attitude of the organization.Change in mental attitude is one of the important aspect of police reforms.Suspension and transfer can not bring the change in the mental attitude among the organization.Change in mental attitude needs the change in the Indian Police Act and implementing the Model Police Act, need to fix the duty hours,creating a conducive environment among the organization,rising the motivation level of the policeman,need to address their basic concerns like change in salary structure,provide them good accommodation facilities,do some focus on their health by conducting yoga classes once in a week and providing the extra incentives for their good work,need to educate the police on how to deal with the people in a decent and civilized manner,need to provide them modern weapons and instruments to fight with the modern crime,need to establish the strict supervision and  the most important need is to free them with any kind of political pressure.When all the aforementioned factors will be combined,then the “Mental Revolution” takes place which will bring a significant change in the police organization and this kind of revolution will proved to be a milestone in restoring the dignity of the police organization.But,first of all,government needs to be sensitive on the subject of police reforms.Police Reforms should become one of the top priority of the welfare government.

Number of patrolling days in the month of February

In the month of February,10 times patrolling has been done,in 6 days out of the 28 days.Patrolling has been done between 12:00am and 1:30 am.

Only lip service can’t bridge the gap between police and people

Uttar Pradesh Police is one of the most unpopular police force in India.People of Uttar Pradesh are not able to develop the trust on police due to several reasons.Uttar Pradesh Police think that lip service can do everything like, lip service can develop trust among people,lip service can teach a policeman about how to behave,lip service can stop crime in the state,lip service can launch special drives against eve teasing,lip service can provide security to women in the state,in an overall perspective lip service is the best weapon to make police force effective,faithful and sensitive.I like to say that this method of controlling crime and developing mutual trust is totally erroneous.I can say that lip service is the way of giving assurance but if only assurance can prevail the Rule of Law in the state then there is no need of Indian Police Act.Lip Service provides the sense of belongingness but it does not resolve the core issue,especially to tackle crime in the state.Actually,IPS Officers of Uttar Pradesh are adopting the path of their political bosses or may be they are ordered to follow the principle of politics.When you talk to the DPCs,DIG,IGPs ,then the first assurance you will get from them is to focus on trust building measures.But,it is very disappointing that the police officials of Uttar Pradesh are not able to find the trust building measures since a long time.Here,equal blame also goes to state government because when any commited and dedicated officer want to implement a new initiative,then he will be awarded with the most beautiful gift of transfer.But,there are only few police officers who want to do so otherwise most of the officers only believe in lip service but a common man get nothing by this kind of service.I have read the interview of many DPCs of Lucknow and other cities when they have joined their respective district for the first time,everybody expressed concern about the behaviour of policemen,lack of trust between policeman and aam aadmi,increasing cases of crime against women and on the first day of joining they make announcements that policeman will be made accountable,action will be taken against guilty irrespective of having any kind of background,a safer environment will be provided for women and so on.I know,that transfer is the major problem of IPS Officers in the state and Uttar Pradesh Police administration is feeling suffocated in political environment but still there are few officers who are giving good performance.I know that condition is not same for everyone but the police administration has become irresponsible and careless.I urge the police administration of Uttar Pradesh to stop lip service and do a little focus on bridging gap between police and people and I also urge the Chief Minister to provide suitable environment to the police administration for performing their tasks and make them accountable.

Police Station is the backbone of that body which takes breathe in political environment

Police station is the foundation of the state police.Police stations are the arms of District Police.Police station is an institution which operates at the ground level and responsible for making the whole police system strong,efficient and effective in tackling the crime.In modern time,police station has become the worst place in Uttar Pradesh because innocent people are tortured in police stations,a person who is a victim of any crime has been treated with unfriendly behaviour,police station is the place of collection of bribe but I must say that taking money sometimes becomes necessity and state government knows that very well.In Uttar Pradesh,police stations are sold and Chief Minister herself accepted this fact.In 2008,Chief Minister Mayawati introduced “Thana Diwas” in Uttar Pradesh.Small problems related to land,money etc  were solved on Thana Diwas and it was a very good initiative to bridge the gap between the police and people.Thana Diwas was organized in an organized way in the beginning but after some months the objective of Thana Diwas has been failed and today nobody want to register his/her complain on Thana Diwas because officers are not present on Thana Diwas.Some officers give the excuse of important meeting,some say that they are inspecting other works.It is very shameful for the Govt. of Uttar Pradesh and whole police department.MLAs,MPs are treated like a king in police stations but a victim who come with a hope of getting justice is treated with unfriendly,unhumane kind of behaviour.Policemen generally apply the principle of nepotism in police stations,they do not want to follow the principle of neutrality.This should be unacceptable for the State Government and whole police department.There is a need of overhauling the complete  structure of Police Stations in Uttar Pradesh and make every policeman accountable to aam aadmi.I m particularly talking about the most careless,most corrupt and the most ineffective IPS Officers.Responsibility should be fixed for every DPC to make surprise inspection of any two police stations every week.One surprise inspection of any police station should be made by IG in a month and a surprise inspection should be made by DGP.These kind of inspections should be made in the night because it has been observed that DPCs are generally busy on facebook in the night.I m not able to understand that what a kind of message IPS Officers want to spread on facebook? I accept that it is the duty of SHO to patrol his area in the night but most of the SHOs go to their homes at the time of patrolling in the night.Today,most of the police stations in Uttar Pradesh are governed by political bosses and the fact is that the District Police Chief is the Captain of all the police stations in that particular district.A common man expects that he will be treated in a  friendly manner in police station.Police station should become a place for bridging the gap between police and aam aadmi.Police station should become an idol of faith and every policeman should recognize police station as a temple of belief and freindship and it can only possible when police stations will be completely free from political pressure and for that we need Police Reforms.So,the ultimate objective is to bring the police reforms.

Infrastructure development and modernization is the key factor for the growth of any organization

Uttar Pradesh Police is the largest police force working under single command.Due to increasing fear of terrorist activities,kidnappings and other henious crimes Special Task Force was constituted in Uttar Pradesh on 4^th May,2009 for a short period of 6 months but after that due to successful achievements of  targets,in the year 2001,Govt. of Uttar Pradesh considered necessity for creation of STF as a regular unit of Uttar Pradesh Police and STF became a reality. STF has done a commendable job.After that with the passage of time,Govt. of Uttar Pradesh felt the need of constituting the Anti Terrorist Squad(ATS).I appreciated both the decisions but the primary task after the constitution of any organization is to provide the infrastructure.But,STF and ATS both have very poor infrastructure and ATS is working as a special cell in the Office of the IG(Range),Lucknow  and STF is also working in a small office which lacks the modern facilities and infrastructure.Modernization not only make your forces able to compete but also make them efficient,speedy and technically strong.Some months earlier Retd DGP of Uttar Pradesh ,Shri Yashpal Singh has said that ATS is like a white elephant in Uttar Pradesh.Govt. of Uttar Pradesh should take some measures for making these two special forces more active and modernized.First of all,there is a need for a construction of new building which should be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and both the offices of these special forces should be set up in that building because many times STF and ATS handle the same case in which the coordination is the primary need.Second point I would like to make, is the modernization of STF and ATS which motivates them and provide the level playing field with other forces like Force One of Mumbai and Grey Hounds of Andhra Pradesh.Thirdly,provide the best training to all the jawans of STF and ATS,so that we can say that the STF and ATS of Uttar Pradesh are the best forces among all the states in India.Fourth,creation of the new post of ADG(STF) and ADG(ATS) in Uttar Pradesh and only those officers should be appointed in these forces who are dedicated and committed to finish the crime and terrorism from the state.I m saying again and again that terrorism is the biggest challenge for Uttar Pradesh because Uttar Pradesh is a soft target for terrorists and everyone remembers the tragic incident of Varanasi.

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.