Suppression of crime: There is no denying that some elements in the police evade registration of cognisable crime. For evading registration they behave discourteously with the victims of crime. A police station officer resorting to suppression of crime commits an offence under section 166 of the Bangladesh Penal Code and renders a disservice to the citizens. Unregistered offences are thus left unattended and have an adverse impact on prevention and detection of crime. The concealment of cognisable crime, a statistical suicide which the police commit, continues to be a source of weakness and embarrassment to police administrators. This is criminal behaviour.

Proportion of wrong-doers: There is no dearth of right-thinking, right-doing, cool courageous and conscientious policemen as can be seen from the reading of the citations for the award of the police medals. However, timely and just action taken by the good policemen in many cases cannot wash out even one of the image shattering misdeeds of the police. In reality good work done by the police over the years pales into insignificance in the face of their illegal actions and uncivilised conduct which really hurts the susceptibilities of the people. The policemen often do not realise that the public expect a high standard of integrity from them. Persons belonging to many other professions fall from the pedestal of public respect but the citizen is ready to dismiss this as one of the frailties of human nature. However, in the case of a police officer such frailties would make headlines. There are indeed few jobs as demanding as that of police and that is why misconduct of the police severely pinches, irks, annoys and angers the people whereas good deeds performed by police most often prove ephemeral. The sweet taste of appreciation is, thus, more rare to a policeman than is the bitterness of the complaint. But that is the uncomfortable reality of police culture as of today, may be not without justification.

Expected role of police: In our democratic polity the police is an institution under the hegemony of the legal system with a basic commitment to the rule of law. Police officers are sworn to uphold the law. The enforcers of the law must not be allowed to violate the law. If they are permitted to win cases by dirty methods they will make the law dirty. If the enforcer becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law. Securing conviction illegally would bring terrible retribution. Law is the means and justice is the end, however painfully long it may be.

Civil liberty, police brutality and frustration: The police are authorised to use reasonable and necessary force to arrest a person, to defend themselves or others and to maintain order. How much force is reasonable and necessary depends upon the facts of the situation and definitely not all instances of use of police force are unreasonable and unnecessary. It may be noted here that the rule of law is primarily concerned with the protection of the accused persons and not of the victims. The dice, it would appear, is, from the very beginning, loaded against police effectiveness. It often becomes difficult for police effectiveness and civil liberties to co-exist in a society governed by rule of law. Such a society feels constrained to sacrifice police effectiveness at the altar of civil liberties which indeed is as it ought to be.

In the foregoing idealistic backdrop, police officers become defensive and frustrated. The result is often scapegoating of others in expressions as under:

a. "Confessions made before police officers are not admissible in law".

b. "Prosecutors are not under the control of the police."

c. "Even hardened criminals are granted the benefit of the provision of anticipatory bail by the magistrates and judges."

d. "The courts turn criminals loose as soon as we catch them."

e. "The standard of evidence required by courts is too high to be realistic."

f. "Prisons, instead of being reformatories, are manufactories of criminals."

g. "The government does not give us the resources we need."

h. "Political interference does not allow us to function."

Possible remedies

i. Since statistical-result orientation of police department is damaging, this has to be replaced by real disposal along with simultaneous efforts to improve scientific investigation.

ii. Slackness and looseness in supervision must be strictly dealt with. In incidents of policemen committing cognisable offences in particular, the superior police officer should lose no time in getting a criminal case, if prime-facie made out by the facts of the case, registered and investigated by CID/DB. Delay in taking action should be adjudged as supervisory negligence with concomitant penal measures. Swift action will be appreciated by the taxpayers and will be a deterrent to errant police officers.

iii. Police inaction has to be dealt with seriously because inactive officers mostly go scot-free. In reality, inaction deserves greater punishment because this behaviour encourages police officers to avoid facing situations on one pretext or other and in taking initiative. Inaction, undoubtedly, is image-shattering and carries the risk of becoming an ominous trait in the police culture.

iv. There must be noticeable reduction and minimisation of corruption and interference in police work. Immediate necessary police action on public complaints could be a salutary illustrative action. Police and public leaders should be able to impart a sense of direction and discipline to the sprawling police administration.

v. Last but not the least, the police functions of investigation and prosecution have to be separated from functions of prevention of crime and maintenance of order. We should be ready to remove functions of investigation and prosecution from the control of the executive and make it as autonomous as that of the Comptroller and Auditor-General.

If our ailment calls for a major surgical operation, it has to be performed without any more tinkering with the palliatives. Prudence demands bold conceptual and structural changes.

Muhammad Nurul Huda is former Inspector General of Police and Secretary to the Government.