Refurbishing the image of police is not as easy as it seems.But, we are used to hear, the self motivated statement of senior police officials about bringing a revolutionary change in the overall image of police administration.Statement can’t be an alternative for action.Actually,most of the IPS Officers are not providing quality leadership to their subordinates ,because they are involved in serving their political bosses and state government too doesn’t want to change this traditional meaning of policing.Image makeover requires multi-pronged strategy to bring a change at every level of policing.

Today,policing doesn’t mean only to maintain law and order.The meaning and definition of policing has changed in various terms.Challenges related to modern terrorism,community policing,issues related to cyber crime,pro active role in issues related to crime against women,ensuring active and constructive participation of common man are some of critical issues which need to become an integral part of policing,apart from serving political bosses and superiors in the police administration.Politics needs to change its mindset and thinking pattern policing related matters.Political class should design a roadmap for effective policing and police administration should implement that roadmap in a transparent way and should be accountable to people,which will come by developing an institutional mechanism of transparency and accountability for police administration.The time has come now to thinking out of the box to meet the expectations of a common man by delivering ideal policing.

Senior Police Officers must be held accountable for molestation of a girl or a woman on the streets of a city.Suspending beat constable,SHO is an excuse to get away with the responsibility of taking action against higher police officials.In case of any molestation of a girl,government should immediately suspend SP/SSP of that city,so that senior police officers must feel the heat of strict action.Effective policing is not a child’s game.It requires a multidisciplinary course of action.State government has to increase the number of policemen,allocation of resources should be enhanced,increase the number of QRTs and QRT shouldn’t mean a a symbol of lazyness and leniency,QRT should deliver quick response and for that there is a need of smart and effective supervision by senior police officers and most importantly,make police station as the strongest and reliable part of policing.Mr. Chief Minister,people are asking,how long will they see the horrible face of policing?

Senior Police Officers must be held accountable for molestation of a girl or a woman on the streets of a city.Suspending beat constable,SHO is an excuse to get away with the responsibility of taking action against higher police officials.In case of any molestation of a girl,government should immediately suspend SP/SSP of that city,so that senior police officers must feel the heat of strict action.Effective policing is not a child’s game.It requires a multidisciplinary course of action.State government has to increase the number of policemen,allocation of resources should be enhanced,increase the number of QRTs and QRT shouldn’t mean a a symbol of lazyness and leniency,QRT should deliver quick response and for that there is a need of smart and effective supervision by senior police officers and most importantly,make police station as the strongest and reliable part of policing.Mr. Chief Minister,people are asking,how long will they see the horrible face of policing?

Uttar Pradesh Government is willing to perform many experiments to bring an overhaul change in the police administration,but the body of police organization covered with rust and it will require an honest and unbiased effort to clean that body,so that it could become a symbol of glory. Top police administration is issuing guidelines regarding the style and functioning of police personnels,like, monitoring bloating waistlines,to ensure that lean and fit officers get prime postings in districts,but here I would like to ask a simple and significant question.Who will monitor the bloating waistlines of IPS Officers,like SSPs,DIGs,IGs,who become lazy and love their chair more than anything else? It’s true that the lower levels of constabulary form that most important part of police administration,but they also need a bold,fearless and extraordinary leader to deliver the quality result in the form of effective policing.If the state government wants to ensure better law and order situation in the state,then it will have to act on every front,from increasing the number of policemen to ensuring that the honest and committed effort is being taken by the senior level police functionaries. 

 It is being heard that soon every district police would have a facebok page of its own on which would be posted pro-people initiatives everyday as also responses to complaints posted on the site.But,I have serious reservations regarding the success of this initiative,because with the same courage and conviction to act,Lucknow Police has launched a facebook page,but no concrete results has been seen so far,because the officer who took that initiative has been transferred and nobody after that tried to take forward that initiative.I am totally unable to understand why the police administration want to act without any responsibility and accountability? Is this a way in which the state government wants to go ahead? All the initiatives taken so far,left only a sign of failure.State government and police top brass need to understand that before taking any initiative,they will have to recognize the strength and will power of their personnels to act.

Uttar Pradesh Police is trying very hard to bring new changes in it’s body shape,but the most significant part missing it to bring a change in the DNA of Uttar Pradesh Police.Changing uniforms,launching police friendly bikes,to set public-police friendly caller tunes on mobile phones of police officials would not change the mindset and functioning style of Uttar Pradesh Police.Lack of accountability,biased towards political class,lack of moral responsibility,lack of infrastructure and conventional training are some of the crucial hurdles,which need to be removed in a certain timeframe.By making new announcements everyday,it seems like state government and senior police officials are acting in undue haste.What would they able to achieve so far is very well known to us and what would they able to achieve in the coming days,is a million dollar question?

The issue of Police Reforms hasn’t yet turned into an outdated mechanism.We have seen so many times that conducting small experiments to bring change in the structural and functioning unit of Uttar Pradesh Police didn’t yield an expected result,simply because of the lack of effective study and decision-making capability.Unless and until,the decisions about bringing some change in the police organization,would be made on the behalf of political preference,people would continue to face the horrible and insensitive face of police in the state.

How easy is it to pronounce two words,”Friendly Police”,because it doesn’t require any accountability,credibility and integrity.But,to really convert these words into action requires honesty with your profession,to become a man of your word,need to take strong and effective decisions and political will to keep people’s interest first rather than fulfilling selfish self-interest in politics.

Lucknow Police have started a programme named ‘Jansahyog’,by putting police friendly mobile on roads.Now,police friendly mobile having modified bikes will patrol the areas from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm and would manage the traffic problems,catching chain snatchers and other works related to policing.It’s a good initiative taken by DIG,Lucknow to mobilize police personnels in an organized way with an effort of covering very small areas.But,I would like to raise some serious questions regarding the concept of creating this kind of force.First,there is a big difference between managing traffic and resolving law and order related issues.If this police friendly mobile is entrusted with a task of catching chain snatchers,then it is essential to deploy more than 200 squads in the entire city of Lucknow and resolving robbery cases requires an extraordinary skills and approach.But,if this force is entrusted with the task of managing traffic problems,then the nature of work is totally different.Second,by managing only traffic problems or catching chain snatchers,would not make police friendly,unless and until,the whole system of police functioning at the level of police stations would be overhauled.Third,who’s going to monitor them? If monitoring would be done at the level of DIG,then we can’t expect better results,because we have seen in the past,that many projects have been started at the level of senior officers,but after sometime the implementation part of the project get the lowest place in the priority list of that officer.So,instead of starting new projects every month,bring a significant change in the entire system and most importantly fix the accountability of IPS Officers.