Have you noticed the new police recruits at Bangalore? My office is situated very close to the office of the Asst. Commissioner of Police which is a sprawling campus off Millers Road, and across the street there’s a small darshini where we often break for a cup of tea. This place is frequented by the local police staff, and one can very usually find the constables, new recruits, police – drivers, and not so regular Sub Inspectors there. The special tea in this darshini is among my favorite tea available in Bangalore.
Well, so this note is about the newly recruited cops at the Constable levels. We see some extremely well built; height above the 5’7” standards, youngsters, who in due course will form the fresh breed of policemen. Most of them are from rural areas, exude the nervousness of being in a large city, but have a sparkle in their eyes of having landed a cops job. Yet, the striking feature that one gets to notice among them is their dress; their khakhi uniform; their cap, which probably was designed some few decades ago (I did not check the history – but am sure like the Indian Penal Code which was coined before Independence for sure and is yet to be updated), and this feature separates them.
I mean, you have a city which has evolved over the years, and the economy which has grown over so much with the advent of all that can be called the latest, whilst the policemen and the system that need to guard the city and keep the law in order have just got frozen in time. I have not surveyed the morale of the new recruits to find what they thought of their uniforms, (though it would be an interesting HR assignment to do) but I am fairly certain that the very look and feel doesn’t tell you much of being proud of their appearance. The uniform is an indispensable part of our work that conveys a sense of pride and bestows accountability and responsibility to the job one is supposed to carry out. It is symbolic of the state of mind of the person who wears it and needs to reflect the culture of the system for which it is worn.
The uniform issue I guess is not limited to the new recruits but is more or less applicable to most among the junior level of cops. Whereas, the mid to senior brass would manage to wear some very decently designed clothes on duty, due to their State Police Academy or IPS tag. The decision makers like very often have kept the best for themselves and conveniently choose to forget the story down the line.
A lot of tax payer’s money is given to the home department and considerable amount I gather would probably be needed to spend on maintaining the law and order. The very fabric in its true essence is not offered to the people wearing the law on their sleeve, leaving much to be desired to find a vibrant force in action to take challenges faced in the wake of rapid urbanization. I need to be affirmed of the confidence of this newly recruited constable to whom I can walk up-to and he needs to complement the value that the department has added to him than just carry something he brought along himself. We need a force which relates to the public at large, feels comfortable in what they wear, and take pride in what they do, and not necessarily be related through the media featured top cop who has a take on all that happens in city with just a morality stick in his hand.
I am sure this situation is quite true for most states, and is the state of the junior cops all over the nation. Post 26/11 attacks, there were many discussions on having reforms in State Police Departments and their functionality. It’s a year approaching now, and probably would not be very untrue to find that a file would not have moved a place yet.
Cynicism apart, a case in contention is the BMTC, the city bus service, a very accountable service that has managed to get its staff relate well to the city population in general. It took some time for them to realise that they were there to make sensible business transporting people and survive in the business. While the home department and the decision makers there are yet to mean law to be their business.
