POLICE STRUCTURE NEEDS

THE MANAGEMENT TOUCH

A major handicap in police administration is the absence of a tool to assess

performance. The problem is, in fact, peculiar to the fields of crime control and
security operations. The object of the organisation is preventing crimes and
success can be measured only in relation to the extent the efforts pay. As the
factors of such an effort are unknown after the crimes are prevented, the
effectiveness of policing can never be measured. The results that are tangible,
namely the successful protection of a sensitive target or the creation of a crime-
free atmosphere during a particular period, can be the outcome for two different
reasons; either no crime was attempted, in which case even the least effective
police could have produced the same results or an all-out major attempt to
commit crime has been prevented, which could not have been achieved by
anything less than first class policing.
The measurement of the quality of crime investigation and maintenance of
order are also equally complex for different reasons. Policing in these fields
largely depends upon intangible factors such as luck, surroundings and the willing
cooperation of the public. In order to tackle these problems in gauging policing
qualities, the organisation compares developments in the same period in the
preceding years. But this is an unscientific method and gives unsatisfactory results
for various reasons. The crime rate or other policing problems do not remain
static over a period of time. These depend upon population, complexity of
society, economic conditions, moral values, quality of leadership, political
conditions, prices and climate, none of which follow any formula.
SUBJECTIVE FANCIES
The police needs, as a control device, a tool to measure policing quality. Until
such a device is invented, the administrators have to rely upon their subjective
fancies to measure and control policing and assess the work of their
subordinates. Until a scientific device is formulated, the heartburns and
frustrations caused by erratic measurement of work and policing qualities,
wherein a few mealy-mouthed smart guys always corner accolades at the cost

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of efficient silent workers, will continue to prevail. A sufficiently active tool to

measure policing qualities is therefore the first priority in the task of creating a new
shape for the Indian police. The success achieved in this field will decide the
degree to which the Indian police can shed its shoddy image.
The police organisation is being run without requisite management principles.
The major lapse lies in the failure to define organisation objectives and formulate
a specific set of actions thereon. For example extraneous objectives such as
creating employment opportunities often inspire the creation of additional posts
irrespective of the organizational needs, which results in the corrosion of job
contents and thereby erode the morale of the force. Work, often, is not allocated
on the basis of scientific assessment of character and aptitude.
Sophisticated equipment purchased under modernization schemes without
creating the infrastructure for their operation or analyzing their relevance and
their relative merits to the organisation, have resulted in their being dumped a few
days after commissioning while even some of the basic needs are yet to be met.
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
The police organisation of India would do well to formulate actions and
operations in line with the latest management principles and practices followed
elsewhere. It may either constitute an efficient cell of management experts to
advice or hire a management consultation firm for guidance. At any rate, the
police organisation of the third millennium should be a far smaller unit than now,
manned by highly committed and capable officers who are paid and looked
after well by the Government.
The last three decades have seen a tremendous expansion in the Indian police.
For the lack of an organizational plan and the foresight to assess future demands,
haphazard growth has resulted. Organizational sensibilities such as workload,
unit of control, accountability functional conveniences, span of control and
information flow are never given the attention they need building an
organisation. As a result, while a few posts in the police are overburdened with
work, there are many which have no work or accountability. The lopsided
growth of the organisation has spawned acute likes and dislikes for various
positions. Naturally, probity and objectivity are sacrificed in favour of survival
and protection of career interests. Corruption is rampant. This may not be the
sole reason for the falling standards of policing. Yet, it is a major cause.
Rationalization of the police structure to bring about a balance among the
various posts in the same rank would certainly help to ameliorate the situation.
It would also help to eliminate the wastage of Government funds on unnecessary
posts. The creation of such posts, in order to accommodate unwanted elements,

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cannot be tolerated in a serious department like the police. A systematic growth

plan for balanced expansion is essential if the department is to meet the tasks
ahead.
INSTINCT
For the administrators, the knowledge of modern management principles
makes policing and related operations cheaper, effective and less demanding in
terms of time, place, manpower, equipment and other resources. The instinct to
study and plan operations in terms of layout charts, time flow, span of control,
methods of programming of operations, motivational aspects, human
relationships, information flow, control methods, work analysis and
contingencies for emergencies must be inherent in police culture whether it
pertains to raids, maintenance of order, crime control, investigation, intelligence
collection, security exercises or simply administration.
Only the meticulous exercise of management techniques will make police
administration meaningful, purposeful and useful in giving the personnel
direction and content.
The present policing system in India has too much of paper work with
hundreds of registers maintained in each station or office with tens of forms filled
up at each stage. A detailed study of the need for paper work should be taken
up to eliminate its need so that time is saved.
Professional knowledge is vital in the field of policing too. What is at issue is
not only the knowledge of law and procedures but also a deeper insight into their
applications, necessary in diverse circumstances. A mind, alert to its surroundings
with an inexhaustible curiosity to know what is afoot and triggers each
development and its likely impact on policing in general and the worker at hand
in particular, is essential for efficient policing. This entails special efforts to update
professional and general knowledge at all levels. There are training programmes,
including in-service training, but they lack in substance and quality. They fail to
impart the right knowledge to the trainees and induce attitudinal changes in them.
The lack of commitment to work, either in actual performance or in supervision,
is the primary cause of this failing. A healthy police setup, from the constabulary
to the ranks of the Director-General must possess sound professional and
general knowledge at all levels.
The modernization of the police force with the latest communication,
transport, weapons and office equipment system and the simultaneous creation
of the necessary infrastructure for their operation in advance alone will make the
police force rise to the challenge of elite criminals who are armed with
sophisticated equipment. India of the third millennium will require its police

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force to be equipped with helicopters as an aide in emergencies. A genuine and

effective effort to achieve modernization would be indispensable in the future.
A face-lift to police stations and offices with the latest office equipment and
general facilities will go a long way in boosting the morale of the policemen.
INTELLECTUAL ANALYSIS
The passion for modernization is not met with an intellectual analysis of the
needs for modernization. The result is spasmodic efforts without the logistic
support to sustain modernist ion. This has resulted in enormous wasteful
expenditure towards the acquisition of gadgets. Indian is yet to develop a system
to assess the needs of modernization in the police and to devise techniques to
speed up the process. India is yet to make full use of advanced computer facilities
for policing; computerization of fingerprints is yet to reach a satisfactory phase.
The use of helicopters for policing remains a dream. Distant hearing and night
watch devices are also unknown.
The response time of the Indian police to a crisis call is unduly long when
compared to international standards. Efforts to shorten it, in Delhi and few other
places where terrorist strikes made shocking impacts did bring about some
improvements. These are only exceptions. Otherwise, no serious though is given
to the need for quick response. The modernization programmes that should
pave the path for improving the response time, seldom attend to this salient need.
The Bangalore city police spent liberally in 1991 on modern communication
gadgets; but this did not improve its speed of response. Instances of such
wasteful expenditure on modernization are available in other parts of the country
also.
Though efforts have been made to redeem the image of the Indian police
nothing substantial has been achieved thanks to amateurish handling of the affair.
The managers have their image development tools limited to issuing occasional
press statements when actually image development has become a highly
advanced field of specialization.
CONSTABULARY
The constabulary which forms the backbone and cutting-edge of Indian
policing and wields real authority over the populace, is a lowly paid, modestly
educated, non-elite mass of works in uniform. The authority they wield makes
them fearsome while their low status in society stands in the way of their getting
empathy and respect. The fearsome authority sans empathy, respect and
legitimacy decidedly proves a deadly substructure for an organisation and people
certainly resent an organisation with this unhealthy attribute. This foible in the
extant setup makes policing more complex.

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The Indian police of the 21-century will require sub-inspectors with their
present scale of education and status in society as the primary unit of policing at
the cutting-edge level. Constables up to the level of Assistant Sub-Inspectors of
Police should be limited to the duties of assistants without police powers and
responsibilities. This will require a huge army of sub inspectors while the
constabulary stands to be severely spruced in strength.
With the removal of the constabulary from the hierarchy, the sub-inspectors
will occupy the lowest rank in the setup. Each police station works under a police
inspector assisted by a host of sub-inspectors, performing all subordinate
functions including beat patrolling and investigation of minor cases.
Diligent efforts at the highest level in the organisation to create a force
characterized by integrity, commitment and intelligence may be the foremost
need of a police organisation of the future. The prevalence of police
administration over general administration in the survival of a nation as a
democratic and disciplined country may necessitate changes in the recruitment
and service condition rules to attract the best talent.
WORK ASSESSMENT
The system of assessment of work for promotion has fallen into utter misuse.
Subjective assessments of corrupt influences must be replaced with periodical
promotions in a time scale of say, 25 years. So every police constable retires at
least as an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, a Sub-Inspector as a Deputy
Superintendent of Police and an Indian Police Service Officer as an Inspector
General of Police. The officers of the Indian Police Service may be posted, on
first appointment, as Superintendents to make the career more attractive, though
not to districts directly. And dual recruitments as in vogue now, have to be
stopped to make selection meaningful.
Officers, in exceptional cases, may have avenues for special promotions in
addition to the two provided in a time scale of say 25 years, on the basis of a
written examination and on an overall assessment of their career of 25 years by
high-power committees formed for the purpose. The promotion of
constabulary in exceptional cases to the ranks of PSIs and above should be
screened by the All-India Police Authority and the promotion of an IPS officer
as the Director General of Police and above should be approved by a Central
Cabinet Committee headed by the Prime Minister

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