Rules and lines…..julio ribeiro
The police can be energised only if senior officers set a disciplined example
The police can be energised only if senior officers set a disciplined example
Corruption has permeated every aspect of public life, and the Indian Express report about senior IPS officers in Pune setting up their wives and sons in the private security business (‘Via wives & sons, top Pune cops run private security agencies’ , IE, August 7) is a reflection of the rot that has set into the police force in Maharashtra in the last two decades.
Most officers do not care to follow the rules because they know that they will get away with the help of their political patrons. The ultimate victims are the people, the security of whose lives and property rests in the hands of those who are more concerned about making a quick buck. Some police officers, who are capable of better results, have been stymied by the home department’s attempts to run the police force, a task which the bureaucrats are not trained to perform. Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil has appointed some outstanding leaders like Sivanandhan as the state’s director general of police, Sanjeev Dayal as Mumbai’s police commissioner, Javed Ahmed as Navi Mumbai police commissioner and Meera Borwankar in Pune, etc. But unless they are given a free hand to discipline their subordinates and make them accountable to the people and the law, they will not succeed.
Internal postings and transfers of deputy commissioners and below, particularly of the senior inspectors in charge of the police stations, should be left solely to the police chiefs. The security climate will improve only if and when this happens.
To restore discipline in the force, start with the basics. Senior leaders must set examples. Service rules do not permit officers to do private business. Camouflaging this activity by starting such businesses in the names of wives and children is not permissible. After all, it is the officer’s position that will influence the success of his wife’s or son’s enterprise. Also, competitors will be deprived of a level playing field.
When I joined the service as a young probationer in 1953, we knew instinctively that certain lines could not be crossed. Those who broke these rules were marginalised. For example, we could not use official cars except for work. Our wives and children could not ride in them except on the rare occasion when the wife was accompanying the husband to an official function. Nobody broke those rules. Now, everything goes. Not only are vehicles routinely misused by wives and even children but officers keep more police orderlies at their home than they are entitled to and use them for work far removed from their prescribed duties. Some officials retain these orderlies after retirement and I know of two very senior officers who have retained even their government flats and cars long after their retirement. Nobody objects because of the prevailing climate of permissiveness, but the lowest-ranked policemen do notice these transgressions. And worse, see them as license for themselves. With what moral authority can the home department enforce rules and regulations if others, who are not so influential, also follow suit?
Departmental and political control has become lax. As young additional superintendents of police, we used to camp at the sites of serious crimes for days together in remote villages, and we would not dare to return without coming to some conclusion lest our supervising officers took adverse notice. I am told that today, these rules are observed mostly in the breach. I dread the time when these young officers rise to senior positions and are called upon to enforce discipline.
The trickle-down effect, on a body of men entrusted with the security of the life and property of citizens, is devastating. It is important that the old élan of the force is restored, by insisting that rules and regulations be observed, starting from the very top. Only then will ordinary policemen become more alert and dedicated to observance of the laws.
The writer was police commissioner of Mumbai and head of Punjab police