The Bombay police manual has not changed over the decades. Yet, all the Police Commissioners have different styles of operation, what may be called the 'Tuglakisation' in police.
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The Bombay police manual has not changed over the decades. Yet, all the Police Commissioners have different styles of operation, what may be called the 'Tuglakisation' in police.
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The police force has seen trigger-happy officers functioning like bureaucrats. The real problem starts when a policeman starts functioning as an Indian Administrative Service officer.
The problem is more pronounced when an officer with an administrative bent of mind occupies the chair. It is almost certain that now, the junior will go for a toss.The focus of the force is in disarray and Junior police are reduced to clerks with backbreaking tally work.
Senior inspectors, who are supposed to get seriously involved in detecting crime cases, are asked to book people with crime records as old as 10 years. A criminal, who has reformed over the years, is also booked just to keep the front line officers busy.
When the figure of such arrests spirals to higher levels, then the same officers are questioned on how could they have made so many arrests. Doubts are raised whether rules were followed or not.
There have been times when top-notch officers of the Mumbai Police force have spent valuable hours during a crime conference in discussing such trivial issues. Obviously, this is at the cost of the deteriorating law and order situation in Mumbai.
Officers are asked to ferret out cases that are more than a decade old. The erstwhile investigating officers are, therefore, located and tutored, so they can present a case in the court.
The juniors have not say in such matters. The commissioner's word is the gospel. It is very difficult to adjudge what is driving the commissioners over the years to take administrative decisions. May be, clearing the IPS exam was their parent's choice.
Whatever may be the motivation for behaving like a human right activist, the people on the streets would always like a policeman to behave like a policeman.
The results of this are not far to see. The crime rate rises and banks and ATMs get looted even when a red alert is sounded. It is not surprising that most of the Bollywood films based on the police system are great hits.
The scriptwriter and the screenplay writer have all the freedom to project the police officer as a tough man, who is not bogged down with clerical work.