Public not at ease in dealing with the police: Study

The fear of police probably reflects psychological barriers which have been nurtured over the years through the conduct of the police or lack of self-confidence of citizens, according to the study "Police Work Culture: A Bottom-up Assessment" conducted by city-based Public Affairs Centre (PAC) at the request of Karnataka State Police Department.

This is well brought out by the fact that in Eastern Range which has the largest population of SC/ST members, the percentage of people not at ease is the highest (66 per cent). It also perhaps has to do with the low percentage of literacy (24 per cent literates), Director General of Police Ajai Kumar Singh said, sharing the study's findings with reporters.

Even as the study put the percentage of corruption in police as low, it was fair to point out that low percentages emerging from the study could be partly due to a misinterpretation by complainants on definition of a bribe. Many ordinary citizens are likely to consider paying for investigation expenses not as a bribe but a legitimate expense by the police to which they should contribute.

The study highlights a major problem of limited awareness of citizens about the procedures at the police station regarding registration (42 per cent), whom to approach (40 per cent), getting an FIR copy (53 per cent).

Here again the low social and educational status of the complainant may partly explain this lack of awareness. But as far as the perfromance of the police station is concerned, it is clear no proactive steops have been taken to inform and educate the public about the steps involved in accessing a police station.

While the study revealed a high degree of loyalty and trust of police personnel in their department, it also pointed out to the downside of police culture pertaining to the rigidity of the internal structure of the department (89 per cent).A highly hierarchical structure and discipline does not permit any openness of ideas to float from the filed to top.

On the complainants' side,one of the main problems faced was to do with the efficiency and responsiveness displayed by the police when their complaints were being taken,(an average of 2 1/2 hours for lodging of complaint and four hours to get the FIR copy.)

While only 47 per cent of complainants indicated full satisfaction with their interaction with the police, the satisfaction of police personnel is much higher (89 per cent). "In fact, public satisfaction will drop significantly if the feedback of those who failed to get their cases registered is also taken into account," the study said.

According to the study, there needs to be a better work-life balance which to some extent can be improved by filling in sanctioned posts and through better human resource management.

Part of their dissatisfaction could be dealt with through better implementation of norms regarding leave compensation. In a psychological sense, their perfromance could also be improved by increase in responsiveness to their ideas.

Announcing some of the steps which have been taken or will be taken in the wake of the study that covered 100 randomly selected police stations, Ajai Kumar Singh said a toll free number 1800 425 0100 has been installed in the office of the DG & IGP Bangalore for easy acess for the public to voice their problems and has been advertised in the media.

Information boards are being put up in front of all police station in order to assist the public with information that will help them to register cases or other complaints. Desks have been installed in District Headquarters to receive compliants from public who are unable to lodge a complaint at the police station in their jurisdiction.

To deal with the problem of repeated visits by the public to the police stations for follow up of their cases, a new system of holding meetings with the complainants every third sunday of the month has been organised in all police stations.

Every station now is reimbursed the expenditure incurred on investigation of cases. It is therefore unnecessary for the public to offer funds to the police for investigation of their cases and this has been widely advertised for the benefit of the public.

Keeping in mind the workload, all officers have been instructed to give weekly off to Police Constables, Head Constables and Assistant Sub-Inspectors. It is also proposed that Inspectors in-charge (SHOs) of police stations should hold monthly meetings.

A one-month outbound course for a month has also been newly initiated for Deputy Superintendents and Superintendents for which an amount of Rs 40 lakh has been sanctioned by the state government, Singh said.