Police As Protectors Of Human Rights

Introduction• Ensuring the safety of the life and property of its citizens is

one of the basic responsibilities of the government in all societies. It is by establishing and maintaining an efficient and an effective police force that the government provides a feeling of security to its citizens.

• In exercising proper control and superintendence over the police, holding them accountable for the various acts of commission and omission and bringing them close to the community, therefore, become issues of utmost importance in a democratic country.

• Police have to play a vital role as the protector of Human Rights. And the role of the police is to maintain the law and order in the country. Police work encompasses preventive and protective roles in the course of maintaining law and order.

• Police should give priority in protecting the rights of the vulnerable section of the society.

Police And Human Rights Relation

• As a product of the society, policemen also display the same characteristics manifest in our society. It is not without reason that the quality of police in any society is generally taken today as an index of the quality of civil life in that society.

• A trained force, police are expected to be a shade better than the general population. But, this is not happening. If human rights violations by the police in India is largely linked to criminality in the force. This is a serious situation that needs urgent attention from the part of the administrators. It reveals gross inadequacies in the selection and training of policemen.

• In general, however, people's ambivalence towards the police and their negative opinions of police work and behavior come mainly from a lack of understanding of the nature of police work .

• In the annual reports of National Human rights Commission it was found that there are a number of allegations of human rights violations leveled against the police.

Police statistics

• Total Crime Reported with the Police : 6.1 Million annually

• Crime reporting per 10,000 of population :63

• Total strength of Civil Police: 1,012,000• Total strength of Armed Police: 3,63,000• Civil Police per 100 square kilometer of

area : 43.41• Total women –Police of all ranks : 20,500• Total number of Forensic Science

laboratories in the country : 105• Annual Expenditure on Police in India :

0.6%of GDP

Disciplinary Procedures

• The police force, is an institution established for specific reasons, which then shape the behaviour and attitude of those within it. In many Asian countries the police force was created during the colonial era.

• The current government also confers arbitrary power to the police on the pretext of maintaining law and order, thereby legitimizing human rights violations.

• The use of such archaic mandates together with conflicting political stances is the reason that policing institutions throughout Asia are lacking in discipline. Unless this breakdown in discipline is addressed, little can be done to improve the effective functioning of the police, as well as regain public confidence in the institution.

• The following issues, which have concern with the police and their functioning, that are based on the National Police Commission report:

a) Political pressure on the police officers. b) Frequent threat of transfer by politicians c) District police taking instructions from Headquarters for every small

decision.d) Lack of leadership in the police. e) After communal riots, there are always some police officers, against

whom action is taken and others go Scot-free.

The effects on human rights

• Most people have heard the argument that respect for human rights is somehow opposed to effective law enforcement. And effective law enforcement means to capture the criminal. A tendency to use overwhelming force in controlling demonstrations, physical pressure to extract information from detainees, or excessive force to secure an arrest can be observed now and then.

• In fact, violations of human rights by police only make the already challenging task of law enforcement more difficult.

• The effects of police human rights violations are multi-fold: a) They erode public confidence b) They hamper effective prosecutions in court c) They isolate the police from the community d) They result in the guilty avoiding sentence, and the innocent

being punished e) They force police agencies to be reactive, rather than

preventive in their approach to crime f) They bring agents and institutions of public authority into

disrepute

Respecting Human Rights can Help The Police?

• Respect for human rights by law enforcement agencies actually enhances the effectiveness of those agencies. Where human rights are systematically respected, police officers have developed professionalism in their approaches to solving and preventing crime and maintaining public order. In this sense, respect for human rights by police is, in addition to being a moral, legal and ethical imperative, also a practical requirement for law enforcement.

• When the police are seen to respect, uphold and defend human rights:

a) Public confidence is built and community cooperation fostered b) Legal prosecutions are successful in court.c) Police are seen as part of the community, performing a valuable

social function d) The fair administration of justice is served, and, consequently,

confidence in the system e) An example is set for respect for the law by others in the society f) Police are able to be closer to the community, and, therefore, in a

position to prevent and solve crimes through proactive policing g) Support is elicited from the media, from the international

community, and from higher authorities h) A contribution is made to the peaceful resolution of conflicts and

complaints.

Field units :The number of field units at different levels in the country

was:

Number of police units

Zones 64

Ranges 157

Districts 635

Sub divisions 1481

Circles 2452

Police station 12248

Police out - posts 6980

26/11 mumbai attack• 26 November 2008 , the unforgettable day in the history of India

and an unimaginable day for mumbaikars. The day when the financial capital was attacked by terrorist, when Mumbai lost its top officers.

• The battle which last for more than 50 hrs was won with the help of NSG commandoes. There was a massive loss in this win as a total of 173 people including the top cops Vijay Salaskar ( Senior Police Inspector and encounter specialist ), Ashok Kamte (Mumbai Police Commissioner), Hemant Kerkare (Joint commissioner ATS), Major Unnikrishnan were killed by the terrorist.

• Our policeman can still be seen holding a wooden stick to fight against terrorism whereas the terrorist are high-tech. They use Ak 47, satellites phone and we still don’t have high-tech instruments to fight against them.

• Hope that the people who scarifies their life for the country and the innocent people who died in the attack get justice some day.

Our heroes

The Role Of Police In Protection Of Human Rights

The Characteristics of the human rights. He said that human rights by nature are Universal, Inalienable, Undivided, Uniform, Fundamental, Developmental and Progressive. The role played by the Police could play a positive role in the protection of human rights in the following manner:

• To contribute to the liberty, equality and fraternity in human affairs.

• To help and reconcile freedom with security and uphold the rule of law.

• To uphold and protect human rights of the citizens.• To build up faith of the people in their protection of human rights

by the state.• To investigate, detect and prevent the offence.• To deal with the minor child, in crisis.• To accept public service is as a mission• To understand the human rights in true spirit and uphold them.

PROBLEMS OF POLICE OFFICERS

• The criticism, that people who talk about Human Rights do not understand the problems of the police, just as all other citizens have and the situation in which the police work also have to be looked into

• There is lot of political interference from the top, in the functioning of the police, which the people do not realise.

• Media should also play its role here by highlighting and appreciating good investigation and work done by the police and not point out only the loopholes of the police functioning.

• Stress was given on the fact that, all police commission reports, right from 1958, says that; general public does not consider police as a friend. There is a difference between respect for the police and fear for the police. What the citizens have for the police today is fear.

• Another issue was the role played by police in times of communal violence; the general belief among people is that police also act in a biased manner.

Conclusion • Efforts should be made to improve the investigative capacity of the

police and their confidence.

• Training should be intensified in scientific and technical investigations and adequate funds should be provided for the same.

• Seminars on the interaction of the police with various Government functionaries like judges Department of women & child welfare etc, on various.

• Emphasis to be given on public –police relation.

• Ways and means to improve the efficiency of the police in protection of Human rights.

What is needed is a friendly communication between police and the common man. The police officers have lots of legal powers to control the human rights violations and so it is there responsibility to protect human rights without succumbing to any kind of pressures like that of the media, public and the politicians