Income-spending gap of police allows corruption to creep in

There is a considerable gap between the legal income of police personnel and their expenditure that inevitably allows extortion and corruption to creep in, said a Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Task Force Report on Governance.

The report said that the common perception of the people about the police is that they illegally collect money, torture people and do not record complaints as per rules and procedures.

The police have relationship with criminals and terrorists and enjoy largess from smuggling and trafficking, the report said suggesting short and long-term remedial actions.

Short-term remedial actions

The police should not be allowed to use Section 54 indiscriminately. A regulatory mechanism involving judges and Ombudsman should be evolved to protect innocent people, including political opponents, from arrest without warrant.

Police officials should be protected from political leaders and influential offenders by provisions such as making it mandatory to record all instructions from any higher authority and regular monitoring of these records by the Office of Ombudsman. This will reduce fear of intimidation, which drastically dissuades police from carrying out investigation if the offenders are influential.

Citizen should be made aware of what the police can and cannot do, and such information must be provided and displayed in all police stations. Attitudinal change through training of the police force is a necessity and recruitment and retraining must emphasise the social commitment on their part including public as well as private morality.

Long-term remedial actions

Police administration should be decentralised and the basic force should work at sub-district level.

The incentive and punishment structure in police administration should be reviewed and made fair. Incentive and punishment structure in police administration is not based on service to the community but on the servitude to the people in power and influence.Alliance of police with influential people for private/personal gain begets corruption.

Entrance into police service should be made such that the police service attract the best quality product with high moral and integrity standards, together with commitment to public service.

Provision should be made for police to exercise power consistent with the job. The police autonomy is to be overseen by special committees composed of cross-section of citizens.

The policies and programmes of the police force should be modernised in the light of existing socioeconomic realities.