15.10.12

Police Reforms


The Centre has asked the states to take action on several ‘measures’ related to over four dozen ‘functional areas’ of policing which may help in improving ‘law and order’.
Though a number of suggestions had attracted public attention after Supreme Court delivered its judgment in response to a PIL on police reforms six years ago, most of them have been gathering dust in the state secretariats.
Some of the ‘measures’ which are supposed to be implemented by states include abolition of “orderly” system, creating a system of district attorney to guide investigation of crimes in districts, setting up metropolitan police authorities in cities with population above one million, establishing an independent inspectorate of police to carry out performance audit of police stations and introducing a ‘citizen friendly’ system of registration of FIRs.
Although the orderly system (posting orderlies at the residence of police officers) has been abolished in some states, most still practice it illegally by attaching constables for screening visitors, attending telephone calls delivering urgent messages.
The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) had in June 2007 recommended abolishing it completely which it found humiliating for constables.

SUGGESTIONS FOR MEN IN KHAKI
Recommendations for states
Involve citizens in evaluating the quality of service at police stations & other offices
Abolish orderly system
Introduce a system of ‘District Attorney’ to guide investigation of crimes
Metropolitan Police Authorities in all cities, with over 1 m population, to oversee community policing and improve police-citizen interface
Independent inspectorate of police for performance audit of police stations
Give ‘masked’ identity to informants who help in intelligence gathering
Increase representation of women in police at all levels (minimum 33%)
Registration of FIRs using citizen-friendly technology (exploring call centers option)
A re-classification of offences to reduce burden of work for courts and police
Administration must make facts available to media at the earliest about any major development
Introduce municipal police service in metropolitan cities to deal with offences prescribed under municipal laws
Function of traffic control may be transferred to local govts in all big cities

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