Tamil Nadu   

Police and its image

LAW &ORDER The consciousness among the police sadly remains shackled in colonial mindset, which the present `Police Image Project' aims to break it free, writes R. Ilangovan

IT IS satisfying to note that the Tamil Nadu police, at last, has started taking some serious measures on `improving' its image among the public.

Worried over the increasing criticism and judicial strictures against its force, the Government under its newly-designed `Police Image Project' selected the best two inspectors of the police from each district as resource persons and put them through a one-day brainstorming session in Chennai recently on how to improve the image.

Many of the subjects that werediscussed in the session had been debated in the past and are being deliberated today. Top officers, including the Director General of Police, addressed them on how to treat the public and gain good image. The stress was on to discard the "I am the Law" mentality and also "all people are not criminals". The issues related to First Information Reports, treatment to complainants, free legal aid to illiterates and refrain from harassment.These resource persons in coordination with senior officials in districts should conduct similar sessions in districts. The feedback would be submitted in the form of report to the Director General of Police (DGP). As instructed by the DGP, the Superintendents of Police C. Bhaskaran (Salem) and Deepak. M. Damor (Namakkal) organised sessions in their respective districts. Inspectors K. Radhakrishnan (Velagoundanpatti) and A. Sampath (Elachipalayam) in Namakkal district and Thangaraj (Yercaud) and Selvaraj (Edapadi) in Salem district are the resource persons. Police and its image have been the vital subjects of discussion for long among the eminent jurists and intellectuals. In fact, the Supreme Court had to intervene to issue `Ten Commandments' on custody-related issues.

"The DGP's move to tone up the police image is the need of the hour at a time when court strictures and habeas corpus petitions are on the rise," an official points out. When four policemen were involved in a dacoit case at Acharapakkam in 1995, the then DGP W. I. Dawaram had gone on record saying that black sheep should be eliminated from police force. Another DGP K. K. Rajasekaran Nair, while inaugurating a police station at Chennai Koyempedu in 1996, said that because of a few corrupt elements, the image of police was slurred. Another former DGP Sripal also issued a circular on `Dos and Don'ts' for his men on image building.

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