Deviant police - Problem Is With The System Not The 'Rotten-Apples'

Sankar Sen
The Statesman, 24 October

It has been reported in the press that two policemen, responsible for brutally thrashing a petty criminal in Bhagalpur and then tying his leg to a motorcycle and dragging him down the road have been departmentally punished. The constable has been dismissed and the recommendation for the dismissal of the Assistant Sub-Inspector has been made by the police headquarters to the Bihar government. They will also face criminal prosecution.

The National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Minorities, which called for reports from the police authorities, will now perhaps close the case as the guilty policemen have got their just deserts. The wider issue of the systemic factors behind police violence and deviance needs to be addressed.

Simplistic view

Efforts are often made to dismiss such grotesque violation of human rights as the action of a few rotten apples. This view is much too simplistic. Abuse and misuse of power is decidedly more complex and multi-dimensional than the "few rotten apples theory" would seek to imply. Maurice Punch in a perceptive study “Conduct Unbecoming” states that the roots of police deviance are “deep seated and results from, as noticed in different countries of the world, improper legislation, occupational culture and desire to produce quick results”. The personality of the officer is only one aspect of the problem. Police deviance is symptomatic of a more serious problem. Organisational culture and practices are very often responsible for misconduct.

In fact, police violence and brutality are correlated to the public's regard for the police authority. Lower the regard translates to lower police self-esteem, thereby making use of force more frequent. On the other hand, unwarranted use of force lowers public regard for the police. Therefore, data points to a higher incidence of force in countries where the police are poorly regarded than where they command better public respect. Hence in countries like Japan and the UK, where the police enjoy considerable public regard, there are few cases of lethal use of force. But the situation is not so in countries like India or the USA where public regard for the police is rather low.

The incidence of the use of force also varies with the social distance between the police and the members of the public. There is evidence to show that police aggression is often directed at persons who have a marginal position in society, elements who dwell on the fringes of respectability like racial minorities or homosexuals and alcoholics. They become special targets of police aggression and are referred to as “Police Properties”. This problem is faced by the police in many countries of the world.

Police violence and excessive use of force is restricted in societies where physical restraint is valued. This is a cultural variable. Professor David Bayle has pointed out that in Japan a policeman who forbears the use of force even at the risk of physical and emotional repression is respected for being so. By contrast, an American policeman considers backing down as cowardly. Again, the use of force and authority by the police is also influenced by societal factors that vary from country to country. In a country like Japan, where police contact with the citizens are less confrontational and police penetration of the community more low-key and routine, there are few cases of misuse of force by the police. But in India, where police contact with the citizens is largely adversarial, there is a wall of mistrust. The relationship remains confrontational.

Again, police behaviour and internal discipline is powerfully influenced by the vocational sense that personnel bring to their work. If policing is viewed as a calling and not just a job with pay and retirement benefits, the standard of internal discipline will be higher. The police in Japan and the UK have developed a much greater sense of vocation than the police in India or the USA.

In Bhagalpur, police violence was supported by the public. The same was the case with the blindings in that district. The loss of public faith in the criminal justice system has encouraged this ominous trend of "lynch justice". People often take the law into their own hands or prevail upon the police to resort to extra-legal and violent methods. Thus abuse of authority intensifies not merely because of official negligence or acquiescence but because many people, rightly or wrongly approve of it as an unavoidable necessity.

Conscientious police officers will have to check the drift. If order is maintained through repression in a democratic society, it is the worst form of disorder. It establishes a link between social order and atrocity. If the police can learn to submerge the short term considerations of the use of force in favour of long-term considerations of professional prestige, they may find the use of force less necessary and less controversial. As the Director of the National Police Academy, I often used to tell the IPS probationers that police officers are accountable to law and have to function within its four corners. There is no scope for counter-violence under the Indian Penal Code.

Again, in every police outfit there are some violence-prone officers who figure repeatedly in cases of misuse and abuse of force. In the USA, the Christopher Commission looked into the use of force by the Los Angeles police after the Rodney King incident (1991). Records pointed to a number of officers against whom there were repeated allegations of misuse of force. They were encouraged by the aggressive style of law enforcement. There should be no hesitation on the part of police leadership to discipline and weed out such black sheep from the force. It has also been found that a police officer is more likely to resort to violence when there are other officers to provide physical and psychological reinforcements.

Proper training

Proper and well-conducted training programmes can have some effect in influencing the conduct and reflexes of the police officers. An abrasive temperament and proclivity towards violence can be effectively reduced by training. Maintaining one’s cool under stressful conditions is a skill that can be taught. There is also need to build a climate of opinion in the organisation that will oppose an unnecessary display of authority and excessive use of violence by the police. Mere sanctions against some errant officers and men for using violence inappropriately will not help.

The influence of organisation in shaping the behaviour and responses of the members is far-reaching. There is need to build up a police organisation with a new code of ethics and behaviour. The first two commissioners of Robert Peel’s London Metropolitan Police were able to raise a police force, which was unarmed and committed to eschew violence as far as possible. The success of the British police was dramatic and had a permanent impact on the public attitude towards the police and the use of force by the police

(The writer is former Director-General, National Human Rights Commission, former Director, National Police Academy, and Senior Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences. )