Police morale low,behaviour hostile,says state reforms commission report

A visit to a police station in the state gives the feeling of being in an alien space,the Punjab Administrative Reforms Commission has stated in its latest report.

A visit to a police station in the state gives the feeling of being in an alien space,the Punjab Administrative Reforms Commission has stated in its latest report. The appearance,the use of language and conduct of policemen end up reinforcing the hostile and threatening ambience of the police station,the report adds,prepared on the basis of a walkthrough assessment.

Underlining the apathy of the police force towards women and child rights,the commission report further adds,…the statement of a rape victim is recorded by a non-gazetted officer and no attempt is made to get a women cop for the job.

In many police stations,there are no separate lock-ups for women and when they are taken into custody,they are confined to one of the several rooms in the police station,the report claims.

The commission has brought to fore the glaring discrepancy in representation of women in the force. Among the police station staff,women representation is only 1:33 (one woman for every 33 male police personnel),according to the 2009 data. Police districts like Amritsar (City),Batala,Muktsar and Mansa have no representation of women in the staff,the report states.

The report also points out that a large number of police stations in Punjab are situated in government buildings not owned by the police department,and one-third of them are operating from the rented premises.

The commission says that certain resources,like funds for the legal aid cell and other services,are provided by property dealers,travel agents and businessmen.

The report rates the motivation level of the work force as low,and none of the personnel surveyed said he/she would like to join the force if given another chance to choose his/her profession.

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In another significant observation,the commission has challenged the common notion of higher performance with higher deployment of staff. More police strength may not be necessary for better performance, the report adds,highlighting that districts of Amritsar and Gurdaspur have disproportionately high police-population ratio and still have an unsatisfactory performance index. The commission is of the view that mere recruitment of constables to increase the staff strength is pointless and new recruitment should be made to make policing adequately equipped with technological resources.

The report has suggested that Punjab needs 19 more police stations,if the population coverage of one lakh per police station is taken as the basis. The report also says that the deployment of police station staff for security of individuals must be discontinued immediately.

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Police morale low,behaviour hostile,says state reforms commission report

A visit to a police station in the state gives the feeling of being in an alien space,the Punjab Administrative Reforms Commission has stated in its latest report.

A visit to a police station in the state gives the feeling of being in an alien space,the Punjab Administrative Reforms Commission has stated in its latest report.