police policy: Strengthen local police station to pack a punch against terror

Terrorists have struck in Mumbai once again. This was the fifth major strike against India's biggest commercial hub, the earlier ones coming in 1993 (257 killed), 2003 (52 killed), 2006 (188 killed) and 2008 (166 killed). Securing Mumbai, with its demographic complexities, cannot be easy, but it should not be that difficult either. After all, New York, Madrid and London were also attacked by terrorists, but those cities were able to secure themselves and the terrorists could not make any subsequent dent.

It is true that in the wake of 26/11, the government took a number of steps to strengthen law enforcement and build its counter-terrorism edifice. National Security Guard (NSG) hubs were established at locations other than Delhi. The National Investigation Agency was set up. Counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism schools were established. The police strength was augmented and its equipment upgraded. A multi-agency centre was activated. Coastal security was beefed up. These measures went a long way, but were obviously not enough.

Assam Police : Rape charges against police officer

A police officer in Assam's Dibrugarh district was arrested Monday on charges of raping a woman in Rohmoria area. According to the FIR filed by the victim in the Rohmoria police station, it was alleged that the officer in charge sub-inspector Pabitra Pran Barua had gone to her
house Sunday to ask for chillies.On finding her alone, the sub-inspector raped her, the FIR said.

Based on the FIR, the SI was suspended and taken into custody, superintendent of police Arabinda Kalita said.

Barua was being questioned and the woman was sent for medical examination, Kalita said.

police policy: Urgent police reforms need of hour, say experts

The latest terror bombings that ripped through India’s financial and entertainment capital have shifted the focus back on the much-awaited police reforms and the absence of preventive intelligence gathering in India.

Reforms would mean doing away with the colonial legacy in the form of the archaic Police Act of 1861, if the nation is to be saved from terrorist outfits and homegrown subversive elements, say experts working on bringing about these changes. The blasts have again exposed known flaws in India’s internal security structure allowing a silent growth of homegrown terrorists, experts say.

The main problems India faces are the vacancies in police forces and inadequate training of force personnel. These problems are only aggravated by the poor intelligence gathering model.

According to official figures, India’s police-population ratio is just 120 per 100,000 people. Globally the ratio is an average of 270.

India has over 20 big and small central intelligence and security agencies – including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) – apart from state police intelligence wings.

India’s capacity to repel a terror attack may have improved but the country still lacks the ability to pre-empt such strikes, experts say. Ground-level intelligence gathering is too poor to prevent modern threats.

When Ajai Sahni, a known security expert, was asked if he thought there are chinks in India’s security establishment, he quipped: ‘There are gaps, enormous gaps.

‘Can you believe that India’s main internal spy agency, the IB, has less than 5,000 field agents to gather ground information from a population of 1.2 billion?’ Sahni told IANS.

‘And their primary job is to do political intelligence for the ruling parties.’

Police officer-turned-activist Kiran Bedi has a question for the government, particularly the union home ministry that looks after internal security management.

‘How much did the Indian police forces reinvent themselves after the (2008) terror attack in Mumbai? You are managing a crisis by creating these intelligence agencies, not preventing a crisis. How will you prevent terrorism in the absence of a trained policeman who is your eyes and ears on the ground?’

Bedi told IANS that if normal policing ‘is absent and you don’t have people on the ground to collect information, these things can happen’.

Sahni, who runs the Institute for Conflict Management that focuses on internal security research in India, said if ground-level intelligence gathering was there, then of course ‘we wouldn’t have taken so long to know who did the Mumbai blasts again’.

‘Haven’t we identified the subversive elements that need constant surveillance? If so, how do we allow them to grow and strike again?’

He recalled an old intelligence gathering system in the country of having a watchman in every village. Those village watchmen used to report to intelligence officers at the local police station every day with whatever information they had.

‘This system has been done away with. But we need a system like this. Not the redundant meta-institutions like the NIA, which are wasteful energy hubs. Nothing prevents terrorism than local intelligence gathering.

‘You can have a whole web of technology to aid these agencies. You can have a grid or a data centre linking 21 databases. You can have National Counter Terrorism Centre. But if the input doesn’t come from the ground, what will you feed them with and what will you work on?’

Former director general of Border Security Force (BSF) E.N. Rammohan feels that politicisation of the intelligence agencies have diverted them their prime duties.

‘The intelligence agencies need to be de-politicised to make them professional and ready them to take up the challenge against terrorists,’ he added.

P.K. Hormis Tharakan, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), said a ‘coordinated effort’ in intelligence gathering was needed to tackle the terrorist threats.

But he said it was incorrect to say the post-26/11 efforts were non- productive.

The long interval of 17 months between the last major terror strike and the 13/7 blasts may be because of these anti-terrorism measures, he said.

Since 1979, governments have set up a number of commissions to reform the police but their recommendations have been largely ignored because politicians, especially in the states, dont want them as they want to keep the police under their thumb.

In October 2005, the union home ministry constituted the Police Act Drafting Committee (PADC) – commonly known as the Soli Sorabjee Committee – which submitted a model police act a year later.

The Supreme Court on Sep 22, 2006, acting on the former police officers’ petition, asked the central government to kickstart reforms which included separating the investigation and law and order functions of the police and have a system of preventive intelligence gathering system in place.

But all that is still awaited.

Delhi Police : Delhi Traffic Police will soon have its own engineering wing,

The Delhi Traffic Police will soon have its own engineering wing, which will be responsible for the design and placement of traffic signals and other crucial road signs.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the DDA’s planning wing, Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure Centre (UTTIPEC), following which, instructions to set up this wing was given by L-G Tejendra Khanna.

“While the traffic police decides on the placement of signals, it is the PWD which marks zebra crossings, puts up signage and other road infrastructure. Till now, this was not in tandem with the signals. For years, pedestrians had to suffer due to this,” said Ashok Bhattacharjee, director of UTTIPEC.

The traffic police had recently readjusted the timing of 37 signal locations, keeping pedestrian’s comfort in mind. But, even at these locations there was a lack of essential road markings such as zebra crossing, stop lines and proper road signage.

Punjab Police : Punjab police personnel to train in the US

CHANDIGARH: As part of police reforms in Punjab, a team of state police may soon go to New York for training with their counterparts in the US, a senior official said on Sunday.

Punjab government will soon sign an MoU to this effect with John Jay College of Criminal Justice , City University of New York , Principal Secretary Home D S Bains, said today.

The proposal for the two-way interaction between the police forces of New York state and Punjab was put forward by a visiting team the American college.

Under the plan, a team of high-ranking police officers from Punjab would get one-week training in New York and a team of five officers with expertise in different areas would visit Punjab in the first phase.

"The main aim of this joint venture would be to motivate our police force to perform better," said Bains.

Maria Haberfeld, who led the US team, said that during her visit to Police Training Colleges Phillaur and Jahan Khelan training institution, she was impressed with the quality of training being imparted but the facilities could be improved.

She suggested that new topics like manpower management, resource management, leadership development, and better deployment of the force could be introduced in the police training syllabus to enhance the skill and performance of the police force.

maharastra police:Nagpur police : Police vehicles for household chores?

NAGPUR: If a few of senior officers have taken away the sophisticated vehicles meant for QRT, there are also allegations of misuse of official cars and jeeps too. The 'another group' alleges that these officers allow their families and friends to use the vehicles at the expense of the department.

A source from the police department said that several officers engage their official vehicles to send their children to school and bring them back home.

"In this admission season most of the officers are not only engaging official vehicles but also manpower to collect college forms, prospectus and finding out the seat availabilities across different institutions," said the source.

A senior officer said that several police station in-charges would not allow their second inspectors to use the official jeep but use it for their family members. "Some of the officers even allow their family members to use the official vehicle and constables for buying vegetables and purchase groceries," said the source.

channai Police: Police seek help from fire dept for Marina beach patrol

HENNAI: City police have sought the help of the fire and rescue services department to provide a stand-by rescue team at Marina Beach to save people from drowning.

"We have a tie-up with Coast Guard security personnel but that is not sufficient. It takes them at least 20 minutes to reach the beach after they get the information. If a rescue team from the fire and rescue services is ready, they can be roped in immediately," a police officer said.

The request has been sent to the fire services director through the city police commissioner JK Tripathy. "We are hoping to get a positive reply soon. The rescue team will be stationed at Anna Square police station or Marina police station. The team will have a rubber boat and a motor-fitted boat. They can go into the sea and search for victims," the officer added.

Drowning cases off the Marina are a problem that the city police are battling. "Despite all our precautions and rescue teams, two people drowned in June and July. Police personnel with the help of fishermen and volunteers rescued two people who were washed away near Anna Square four days ago," said Triplicane assistant commissioner of police S Senthilkumaran. Anna Square police station is in charge of the coastline of 1.5km from the Cooum River estuary to Kannagi Statue. "We have deployed 15 policemen to patrol the beach. Many tourists and people from other states don't understand our language but they do listen to us eventually. College students are the ones who flout rules," said Anna Square police inspector Mohammad Nasar.

"We have two permanent volunteers at the police station who help us with rescue operations. Some fishermen also come to the aid of the police. We have prevented more than 100 tourists and youngsters from venturing into the sea," the inspector added.