War against terror: the role of police stations
ARUN BOTHRA
November 27th was the day of annual festival of thanksgiving in America. Mumbai had an unusual and unprecedented thanksgiving day on November 28. People queued up in lines to pay respects to the commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG), when they came down from the high rise buildings of the Trident and Taj hotels after finishing their job. They were cheered with patriotic slogans. The released hostages and bystanders shook hands with them to express their gratitude on behalf of the nation.
But those who have seen these emotional scenes earlier know that the euphoria might last only a few weeks. We are not a nation which gives due respect to its war heroes. Our children can list out all cricket teams of the world but cannot name a few recipients of Param Vir Chakra. We do not allow a well deserved farewell to a martyr like Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma or even to a legend like Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.
Is it time for change
There is a possibility that like all earlier terror attacks this time also we will return to our slumber. Media driven priorities will shift from Mumbai to some other place, which has the potential to keep TRPs high. If any change is possible this is the time for it. The ritual of blame game and the rhetoric of intelligence failure have lost their meaning. If our intelligence is failing us every time, we have to fix the problem rather than wait for another failure to take place. In any case, we cannot expect the ISI to send us advance intelligence about terror attacks.
A decision has been finally taken to establish a federal agency to deal with terror and organised crime. While there is a consensus on the need of a federal agency, we must understand that the role of the basic policing unit, the police station, is equally vital. No agency with whatever resources and expertise can do without the backup of a strong network of police stations. Sadly, there is not much of effort to equip police stations to deal with modern-day challenges of policing. There is an urgent need of huge investment at the police station level, both in terms of manpower and logistics. At present, with a large number of vacancies, an ever increasing workload, a bare minimum logistics and little modernisation, our police stations are just managing the situation.
There has been a lot of talk about intelligence failure on the part of our national agencies, who have the responsibility to provide information on such a vast arena and on varied subjects.
The local police with its wide network also have an important role in refining the available inputs and making it actionable. Collection, collation and dissemination of intelligence are collective efforts needing both upward and downward linkages. Police stations have a major role in this scheme of things. A police station has to interact with all classes of people. This enables it to acquire and verify vital intelligence inputs. But then our police stations are already crumbling under the workload. VIP security and Bandobast duties are so high on their priority list that there is hardly any time and resource left for intelligence collection.
Police station’s role
In Mumbai, it was an alert team of D. B. Nagar Police station, which caught a terrorist alive. In the process, a brave ASI Tukaram Gopal Omble lost his life. Many more officers and men from various police stations responded to the situation swiftly and saved many people. All narrations of survivors of the attack are full of praise for the local police as well.
It is true that highly capable and specialised agencies like the NSG are the need of the hour. A decision has already been taken to decentralise the NSG by creating its hubs in major cities. But then there is no guarantee that terrorists will strike in these major cities. On the other hand, more attacks, unfortunately, seem guaranteed. In any such scenario, the local police have to be the first responder. We can improve our performance only by strengthening and not by ignoring it.
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