Community Policing in India as a Public Policy & lessons from the United States

Satyajit Mohanty
PGPPM, IIMB

Community policing- concepts

The basis of police authority can not be mere law, it has to be the trust of the community as well Police should look upon community as a partner in their endeavour to uphold the rule of law community policing advocates forging of problem solving partnership between the police and the public Community policing revolves round the principle of pro-active policing through people friendly policing practices, community participation and problem solving leading to crime prevention and maintenance of order. the people and the police collaborate even before a serious problem arises and not merely as a knee jerk reaction after a crisis. The community plays a crucial role in helping police resolve crime and disorder. Thereafter, a collaborative approach to solve the community problems is called for. Here, police act as a catalyst in the social engineering experiment.

What ails our CP strategies ?

A number of successful community policing schemes have been launched in States/UTs of India, either with the initiative of the State/UT Governments or with that of senior police officers. Individual initiatives, it is seen at several instances, suffer from successorpredecessor syndrome. There has been lack of uniformity in application of the initiatives. The best practices have never been compiled officially at a national level till formation of the National Police Mission in the year 2008. There has been lack of institutional support and legal framework to sustain, nurture and carry forward the efforts except in few States- e.g, Kerala, Tamilnadu, States with the new Police Act No concerted effort to integrate the CP strategies with the traditional policing as a public policy

Salient Features of Community Policing in the United States Policing is highly decentralized with about 18,000 autonomous police agencies. Most police work takes place in Municipal and county departments,

Much of the impetus for Community Policing came from the reports of the Presidents Commission on Crime & Disorder in the 60s,Broken Window article, Flint ( Michigan) & Newark Foot Patrolling Experiments

Community Oriented Policing (COP), Problem Oriented Policing (POP), Community Oriented Policing and Problem-Solving (COPPS) refer to a model or philosophy of policing that is based on three fundamental concepts 1-Problem- solving- proactive approach 2-Decentralization of service and decision making 3- Partnership with stake holders

Legal & Institutional Dynamics

Violent Crime Control And Law Enforcement Act 1994/ Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act 1994 The office of the Community Oriented Policing Services was created under the Department of Justice to coordinate the program, nationwide COPS give financial support for hiring police officers to be engaged in Community policing and Community Policing schemes - $ 600 mn budget in 2010 COPS sponsor a number of training programs, New Perspective on Community Policing, police Training Officers Program, Regional Community Policing Institutes (more than 600,000 police offices, community leaders, government officials trained) COPS collaborate with a number of Universities and engage Academics to do research in the field of CP and provide rich inputs to the police leaders and practitioners Department of Homeland Security supports and sponsors a number of CP initiatives

Testimony of Secretary Janet Napolitano before US House of Representatives on Home Land Security Feb 9, 2011
We will also leverage grant programs to support training and technical assistance in

building community partnerships and local participation in the SAR( Suspicion Activity Reporting) Initiative. . DHS, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) within DOJ, and the DOJ Bureau for Justice Assistance within the DOJ are working together to develop a joint grant resource guide for state and local law enforcement that leverages relevant funds and programs for community-oriented policing.

To foster this vigilance, we have taken a public awareness campaign with a familiar

slogan "If You See Something, Say Something," initially used by New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority and funded in part by DHS and are spreading it across the country. This program is based on those tenets of community-oriented policing that enable the public to work closely with local law enforcement to protect their communities from crime.

Lessons for India

Community policing practices of India have been recognized internationally by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) alongside their US & Canadian counterparts : IACP Community Policing Award 2001 Trichy City (Tamilnadu), Adilabad District Police (AP), Award finalist 2005 Institutional Arrangements- Like COPS under DOJ we there may be a National Nodal Agency, Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) under Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in India- National Police Mission MHA may provide financial support to the State & UT polices ( 40 agencies as against 18000 in the US ) for community policing initiatives as in case of DOJ The BPR&D, MHA may identify and develop State Police Academies as State level community policing training centers for police personnel and civilians ( PTO program of COPS) State and UT polices should collaborate with academics and Universities to encourage research in the field of community policing

Lessons for India

India has been a victim terrorist attacks for the last two decades. Post 9/11 the US government created the Department of Homeland Security to prevent, protect and respond to any such attack. One of the numerous programs taken up by the DHS is the community participation and community policing towards achieving this objectives. Though no such parallel agency exists in India, the National Security Council (NSC) may do well by emphasizing the importance of Community policing to the State & UT polices. Legal & Statutory ProvisionsDraft Police Bill Advisory of MHA, Government of India ( Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994/ Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994)

Thank u, any ?