With the expose by this newspaper, serving to unearth a sinister plot where a constable connived with criminals to carry out robberies and extortion, the Goa Police once again finds itself fending off aspersions cast against its fair name.
Although the prompt dismissal of the cop from service clearly defines the sincerity of the police department to set its house right, the complicity of the terminated constable in a spate of thefts is indeed a matter of serious concern.
Associated with criminals involved in a series of thefts of gold and chain snatching cases for his illegal gain, the constable has given enough evidence of his criminal bent of mind and merits no right to continue in the police department.
As a diabolical plan that had the criminals enjoying the patronage of a law enforcer, the whole set-up reeks of unpleasant practises in the establishment.
Apprehensions as to whether this is just a one-off case or whether similar instances of ‘criminal socialization’ by departmental personnel have helped felons in the past need to be thoroughly investigated by the police.
Such disgraceful affability can only bring disrepute to the police force. While the police uniform should be instilling fear in criminals and a feeling of safety among the law-abiding citizens, ‘camaraderie’ between the up-keepers of law and the law-breakers will only spell disaster.
The arrest of a police constable recruit undergoing training at Valpoi as one of the accused in the murder of a history-sheeter at Merces in July this year is another instance of a ‘friendship’ that shouldn’t have been budding.
The existence of rotten apples is a glaring anomaly in any system and the police force in the country has been no different. Moreover, with the power it wields, it is not difficult to gauge the extent of corruption that has percolated into the police force.
It thus becomes pertinent to have the police department investigating allegations of some of its personnel being hand in gloves with thieves, robbers and smugglers operating in their areas of jurisdiction. The notion that a share of the ‘booty’ is theirs for the asking needs to be dispelled at the earliest.
The Asian Human Rights Commission is a leading regional group that counteracts the day to day abuse of basic human rights across Asia through fast, accurate and constant advocacy on individual cases, government policy and institutional obstacles to democracy and the rule of law.
Way back in 2007, the AHRC had issued a statement that most police officers in India associate themselves with criminals in their locality as the police are often involved in the same crimes and/or in many cases seek to claim a share of the money collected by the criminals.
It further stated that the police assist the criminals by either refusing to take any action against them or, if under pressure, by registering cases but failing to properly investigate them.
These are some of the instances where the department has disgraced itself with such deplorable acts. Time and again, the police higher-ups have had to go on a damage-control mode to rectify the situation.
It is but natural to have those in authority or exercising a lot of influence or power over others coming together for common gains. The police-politician-criminal nexus flourishes purely for this reason.
The Ex-Chief Justice of India N V Ramanna in a lecture last year stated that people hesitate to approach police in times of despair as its image is tarnished by allegations of corruption, excesses, lack of impartiality and close nexus with the political class.
As so rightly said, the need of the hour for the law enforcement machinery is to reclaim social legitimacy and public trust.
“India’s existing police system suffers a series of deficiencies from problems relating to a police organization, environment, infrastructure, and understaffing, to obsolete weaponry and intelligence gathering techniques to a shortage of manpower to corruption, the police force in the country is not in a good shape.”
But, a general belief that crimes in the country are not due to the shortage of hands in the police department as is being made out, but are direct consequences of a discernible shortcoming in the forces’ approach to tackling the menace cannot be dismissed either!
This could possibly describe how the conniving criminals always manage to stay a step ahead of the harried policemen.
The inability of the police to have a system in place which could help them recognize lacunae in the laws and devise methods to apprehend the culprits before they take recourse to the loopholes afforded has been a clean-cut disadvantage for the law enforcers.
With crime having evolved over the years to encompass methods and techniques which baffle the best of policing brains, the force is tasked with expanding responsibilities.
Fortunately, we in Goa have one of the best police forces in the country today. The current corps of officers has established that they are competent enough to handle the most onerous of tasks. Another notable feature has been the people-friendly approach adopted. Every attribute associated with the colonial period is being shunned.
Not that they have been reticent about exercising their authority whenever required! They are expected to be impartial dealing effectively with crime and disorder and their strict demeanour is often a perfect deterrent against unruliness by the public.
However, whenever misconduct surfaces in the midst of some organization, one is often reminded about ‘rotten apples’ in the system. However with the police force it is the case of one malefactor in the department making the public wary of everybody else.
Nevertheless, the need of the hour is a systematic weed out of all such undesirable elements in the police department. As so rightly opined, law enforcers cannot be allowed to turn into law breakers at any cost!
