The many shades of policing during a crisis

A public call for revamping the systems is often followed by episodes of agony and injustice. The worldwide protests over the killing of George Floyd in the US, among other things, are increasingly getting converted into a concerted call to reform the systems of criminal justice, which are riddled with racial bias and other imbalances, giving rise to a police behaviour which is unacceptable in a society governed by the rule of law.

In India, the police have arrested people from the vulnerable labour class with alacrity during the lockdown and indulged in highhandedness of a disturbing degree.

The police have to be in the forefront during crises. These extraordinary times have resulted in an increased engagement of police personnel with the common population, with constant patrolling and a spike in checkpoints. The ways in which the police have enforced the lockdown have invoked both admiration and scorn.

Often associated with brutality and perceived with mistrust, police forces came up with creative ways to connect with the people in a humane and compassionate manner. Officers in Chennai and Hyderabad have been using helmets resembling the virus to create awareness. The Kolkata and Punjab police have resorted to singing to attract the people’s attention. The Madhya Pradesh police have been shaming violators by making them hold placards reading “I am enemy of the society. I can’t stay at home.” Police units in Assam and Maharashtra have used social media in innovative ways to escalate the cyber cell and vigorously tackle fake news and misinformation. In Assam, Punjab, Karnataka and Maharashtra, the police have been distributing food, hand sanitisers and other essentials to the poor. The challenge posed by the pandemic has also created opportunities for community engagement, which the police force has been trying to tap into, by roping in NGOs and other organisations.

These encouraging stories are unfortunately accompanied by videos of assault and harassment by the police. In a viral video, policemen in Uttar Pradesh can be seen asking some boys to do frog jumps to punish them for violating curfew norms. In a video from Belgaum, police are lathi-charging those leaving the mosque. Even those exempted from the lockdown, such as doctors, delivery men, vegetable vendors etc have been subjected to the lathi. There are also reports of essential products being destroyed by the police. In a reprehensible video, a female doctor was slapped by a police official in Khammam (Telangana).

However, at a level, such behaviour is understandable. In this exceptionally stressful situation, the stress is exacerbated by the poor manpower with which the police are working. In India, there are only 144 police officials per 1,00,000 citizens as against 222, recommended by the UN.

According to a report by The Economist, the Indian police force is overworked. As much as 90 per cent of the officials work for more than eight hours a day, according to a 2014 survey. This has gotten worse since the lockdown when the policemen are required to perform diverse roles which are not clearly defined. The ambiguity of the MHA guidelines, on the one hand, allows the police to be expeditious in their response when the state of affairs is uncertain. On the other hand, such flexibility increases the scope of what is expected of them.

Notwithstanding these problems, the lack of cooperation from the common public often forces them to use high-handedness in dealing with them. Coupled with the paranoia associated with the virus, many find it justifiable for the police to be unforgiving in their handling of the public. The attack on a police team in Patiala on being asked to show curfew passes that resulted in the hand of an assistant sub-inspector being chopped off is indicative of the disregard to the role of police personnel and the risk that they can be exposed to while carrying out their functions.

However, it is also argued that the callousness of the Indian police is strongly integrated into its character and sub-cultural roots. The current behaviour of the police marked by abuse and violence is only an escalated form of what defines the character of the Indian police. It just so happens that in these times, the accountability measures that are in place in normal times have become diluted, which has allowed the police to unleash force in a harsher manner. The continuance of such a modus operandi has the risk of widening the trust deficit and possibility of a retaliation from the public, which will tend to become more restless in the coming days.

The police, to an extent, have been a victim of flawed attribution to their misbehaviour. In any event of police misbehaviour, the ‘police’ are looked down upon. Are we talking about the police as ‘institution’ or the police as ‘individual’ in this case? When we say that the police are wrong, we are not necessarily attributing the police as an institution. This attribution is always about certain individuals, who in their personal capacity chose to indulge in unlawful behaviour. Such behaviour does not have any institutional backing from the police organisation.

However, this erroneous perception has brought disrepute and loss of credibility to the police. Arguably, the police is a potentially effective organisation which can help the public in various critical situations. Paradoxes in the role of the police are inevitably inbuilt. Insofar as the police appear to be organisationally driven by a belief that its members can get away with their extra-legal deeds, it is a manifestation of their sub-cultural affiliation. The police sub-culture typically imbues its members with a set of values and a belief system that drive them to be ‘tough’, to a level where their sense of commitment to the rule of law is overpowered by a value system of police sub-culture. It is hard to insulate the police from their sub-cultural affiliation, as the learning of police values is a long-drawn process that is built up over the years. Police brutality is a manifestation of this sub-cultural expression and any effort to deal with it is often defeated.

The need of the hour is to have a compassionate leadership that is able to able to take an effective managerial and supervisory role. Partnership with other stakeholders must be scaled up. Community policing must be given a serious consideration. This will not only result in better cooperation with the public, but the police will also gain confidence in their eyes. It will ease out the burden on the police personnel, who can then prioritise their functions in areas which have been identified as hotspots. Let not the bad times bring the worst in us.