The philosophy behind penology consists of the following elements: deterrence, retribution and reformation. We may refer to the Holy Quran's Surah Al-Bakara - A178/179 wherein Allah ordains 'Kesas', which 'ensures security to life'. If one would fathom the depth of its deeper meaning one will realize that it essentially points towards 'deterrence through retribution' which is likely to reduce the recurrence of crime, particularly, the heinous ones and ensure security to life.
Thus prevention of crime and treatment of offenders are the two primary goals of criminal justice administration. This in turn has four organs: the codes, the constables, the courts and the corrections. A coordinated functioning of the four is essential. Any failure or laxity of one or the other will surely affect the short and long term goals of law enforcement. In Bangladesh, we are lagging quite egregiously, in the quality of all the four. Taking up the police in isolation and by way of reform, putting them under the control of local councils, specially in their present state of existence, does not appear to be saner move in the prevailing circumstances of our country. It will be like putting the horse before the cart.
Limiting our present dissertation to police alone, we may analyse the day to day problems, the general public may come across with the police, wherein they may desire some immediate reforms:
a) Arrest without a warrant: This is done by the police under Section 54 of the CRPC. The section has nine clauses. All the clauses are essential for the maintenance of statehood. But the problem lies in the flagrant misuse of this provision by subordinate police officers without honouring the aforementioned nine specific clauses. There is very little supervision and therefore hardly any action against the wrong doers. In the process many innocent people face harassment and have to buy their freedom and face many physical inconveniences. There is enough scope of supervision and control of this function of the police initially by supervising the police officers and to be pursued by the magistrates after every fortnight as required by law. Through such events of arrest without a warrant, and the manner of disposing the matter, police-civilian relationship gets greatly strained.
b) Difficulty in filing an FIR: Many complain about thana officers that complainants who are poor are treated differently from the wealthy. Victims lodging an FIR or a GD at a thana also complain of indifference of the attending police officer where they expect, and rightfully so, a sympathetic attitude.
c) Delays: Victims often lose confidence in the sincerity and initiative of the police because of unusual delays in arriving at the scene of offence. Delays are also frequent in arresting named accused or those who have warrants issued for their arrest. Of course, delays are also caused due to shortage of transport and other required equipment.
d) Torture: Complaints are frequently made of torture by the police. There is no legal sanction for torture. Rather police regulation strictly prohibits torture. Police should be careful to respect the regulation. Some of the common complaints generally made by the members of the public can be easily addressed by frequent and closer supervision. The senior officers need to be more ardent.
e) Application of disproportionate force: This is seen often when the police tries to disperse crowds. On quite a few occasions, ugly scenes surface on television showing a rioter being manhandled by a number of constables even after he has been over powered. Often rioters do anger policemen by throwing stones and brickbats. In such cases, the police are better off using defensive shields and maintaining a safe distance from missiles. Retaliation only undermines public sympathy for the police and does more harm than good.
Admittedly, the situation is often made more complicated. Demonstrators can undermine efforts of the police by putting their women members at the head of processions and encouraging them to become violent. In turn, women police are engaged to counter women rioters. A desperate situation, in which our women are pitched against each other, should be unequivocally avoided by all. The sooner we forsake this ugly drill, the better it would be for police-civilian relations.
f) Police involvement in crime: Stray incidents of erring police men getting involved in crime or assisting criminals are sometimes reported by the press. Disciplinary actions, including criminal cases, are also taken. But the damage done to the image of police is often permanent.
Police involvement in crime often occurs because of irregular recruitment allegedly under influence of political parties. Recruitment from the political cadres in all ranks departmentally or through the PSC, which has also been of late manned by party supporters, made room for recruitment of quite a few undesirables to our police. While this may be difficult to control without a systemic overhaul, we may certainly impart certain forms of intensive training, not just in physical fitness, law, procedure and psychology but also on moral science so as to develop individual faculty of policing and loyalty to his duty.
g) Another problem the police faces nowadays has to do with terror groups taking refuge in neighbouring countries where they blend in with people of the same ethnic origin. In the absence of a treaty of extradition, police are impeded from taking legal action. Recently with help of foreign offices of both countries, some criminals could be extradited from our neighbours. These instances should serve as precedent to make better use of SAARC relations and enforce more effective transnational crime control.
h) Salary and benefits: This is of course, an oft-talked about area of police reform and some improvements have already been made in this regard. What must be borne in mind is that while almost all government servants work 8-hour days, the police are on service practically for 24 hours. Also, there is the question of class and rank according to which salaries are paid to policemen. A constable in Bangladesh is a class 4 officer, on the same rung of the bureaucratic hierarchy as a peon. A constable in England is addressed as an officer. The same should be done here. While paying the constable more than a peon in a different ministry may disrupt the class structure of our bureaucracy, we can think in terms of elevating the rank of constables and their superiors allowing them to receive higher salaries. Finally, the government should also consider compensating the police for investigation-related actual expenses, which will also serve as a deterrent to corruption.
The proposed police reform does not necessarily, however, call for a total scrapping of the existing laws just because many of these were enacted during the colonial days. There are laws that are still quite useful and valid to meet the needs of criminal justice provided the police enforce them fairly and discreetly. Some amendments, where required, will suffice for the time being. The same laws are still in use, albeit with some amendments in our neighbouring countries. (Sec 41 of the Indian criminal procedure code.)
Police reform should be taken up on the recommendations of a broad based police commission. Informal social control is gradually being replaced by formal law enforcement, particularly in the urban areas where social life is fragmenting and community living is de-crystallizing. In this context, we may refer to community policing of which, often, mention is made in discussions on police reform. Community policing is essentially an English concept. In the multiracial society of London city, besides the English, Scottish and Welsh, immigrants from a range of Asian and African countries live in ethnically-defined neighbourhoods. Policing in such neighbourhood without policemen drafted from the same community, is often difficult and may lead to tension between different communities. As per recommendations of Lord Scarmen, head of a one man commission, in April 1981, after London rioting during tenure of Prime Minister Thatcher, the London police introduced community policing. It is believed that this facilitated more frequent and effective police-public cooperation.
However, such a policy of structural change, on account of the homogenous nature of our society, does not appear to be effective in Bangladesh. Greater police-public cooperation is certainly required for which more initiative need to be taken by thana-level officers. Mere changing some ranks and designation of police officers will achieve nothing more than a cosmetic treatment. What is really needed is a real change of the heart and the spirit of the persons who would be entrusted with the noble job and also of the realisation of their responsibility by the social influential persons. Some legal safe guards need be provided to forge equilibrium to the desired objective.
No discussion on ways to improve the image of the police and police-civilian relationships can preclude a consideration of the limits of such goals. The civilians certainly need to trust the police. They certainly need to know that they can contact their local station in the incidence of a crime or for fear of it, and the police will deliver appropriately. Trust in the police, of course, is imperative. But in trying to improve police-civilian relations, we need not think in terms of sensitizing our police's image so that civilians see it as only a 'friendly' institution. A 'fear factor' is also essential if policing is to serve as a deterrent to crimes and law enforcement is to be effectively established in the society.
Before concluding it may be further observed that the recent anti-corruption drives in Bangladesh via constitutional bodies such as the ACC are of course effective to some measure. However, punishing high profile corrupt members of society is only a treatment of the symptoms but not the disease. Unless we have an honest, neutral, and efficient police system, we will not be able to rid our society of corruption and crime permanently.
Abdur Raquib Khandaker is a former IGP and a former member of Crime Prevention and Control Committee, UN.