Police Attack And Are Attacked

There have always been instances of the police officers trying to prove their upper hand by shoving their badge in the public’s face. However, there have also been instances where the public has been violent against the police officers. Both of these instances prove the point that there has to be a reform in the rule system of the long-standing department.

A cabbie was pushed to suicide after he was allegedly abused and manhandled by the traffic police officers. A techie was abused merely because he was standing out of this house in the middle of the night. For a force that is often under ridicule for still continuing the colonial form of administration, the recent events have only further lowered their reputation in the state.

The police personnel involved in these cases were either suspended or they were shunted out of their stations. But all of these actions had been taken only after the topic gone out of their hands ie., the topic had reached the media.

“The colonial rulers raised the force not for crime detection, but primarily to put down any kind of people’s dissent, to maintain law and order in favour of an illegitimate government” said K Chandru, a retired judge of the Madras HC.

Even when a person is found guilty of violating our laws the police personnel are trained to treat them with utmost respect. But the police officers of the Indian Police stations believe that it is their right to call a suspect by name and call him/her by other derogatory names. They do no detain a fugitive if that person has any connection to their higher officials or politicians. This behaviour of the police officers has made the public slowly lose hope and confidence on the police force.

The higher officials have been constantly training the police men on field on behavioural rules and regulations. Even then, the actions of the police officers have not changed. They still treat the public in any way they please to do.

“We are a country where police officers work 15 hours a day, without any weekly offs. Therefore, the constant stress they undergo naturally reflects on their behaviour towards the public” – V.Sithannan, former Principal of the Police Academy.

While being trained and inducted, the police officials are briefly explained on their behavioural attitudes towards the public. They are also introduced to the different behavioural patterns of the public in different areas of the state. For example, the behaviour of the people of Madurai will differ from the behaviour of the people of Chennai. The police officers are made to learn the different slangs of Tamil that are practised throughout the state. The personnel undergo a special training in which there are upto 22 topics related to behavioural attitudes of the Police officers towards the public. And yet, the behaviour of the police is deteriorating.

While the behaviour of the police officers towards the public is awful, the behaviour of the public towards the police officers is also very much deteriorating. The attacks on the police officers by the public, in a fit of rage, is on a forever high. The police officers are also at the receiving end of the abuse these days.

There have been at least 5 cases uploaded in a week in which the police officers were attacked by the public. In many of these cases the police officers were doing their duties, and the public responded to the calls of the police officer with violence. Even when the police officer is silent, there have been many cases where, the public attacks the police personnel. In the new age of technology, the information reaches the public very soon and in just a few minutes it becomes a viral video and/or multiple memes.

The police officers have been trained and made to attend workshops related to the way they should behave to the public. They have been trained to not react at all when being persuaded into a fight.

On 14^th January, a police woman was verbally abused by a group of men when she refused them to move barricades near the Vivekanandar Illawm to enter the service lane near the beach. T Nagar sector police Shantakumar was manhandled by a group of lawyers at Jafferkhanpet when he questioned them about consuming liquor in the middle of the road at midnight.

The police officers at maximum pressure, they are paid less and made to work a lot. They deserve to be treated with respect and nothing else. They have to subdue to the pressure that falls on them from their higher officials and sometimes are made to not follow the rules for some, related to some big person. But at the end of the day, you have to realize that they are also people and they also suffer from work pressure.