4.

SECURITY
4.1. POLICE REFORMS
Why in News?
57th All-India Conference of Director Generals/ Inspector Generals of Police of all the states and union territories was
held in Delhi.
More on news
• This annual conference is organized by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and its deliberations are presided over by the
Director, IB.
• The conference focused on policing and national security issues.
Policing responsibilities in India
The basic framework for policing in India was laid
down in the pre-independence era through the Police
Act, 1861. In the federal structure of the country,
‘Police' and 'Public Order’ are state subjects under
the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
State police forces are primarily in charge of issues
such as crime prevention and investigation and
maintaining law and order. While they also provide
the first response in case of more intense internal
security challenges (e.g., terrorist incident or
insurgency-related violence).
Policing issues in India
• Human resource problem:
o Overburdened forces: According to the Status of Policing in India Report 2019, police in India work at 77% of
their sanctioned strength and for 14 hours a day on average.
o Absence of incentives to perform: 86% of the state police comprises of constabulary and lack of promotion
prospects weaken their incentive to perform.
o Gender inequality: Women are underrepresented in the police force, constituting only 10.3% of police force.
• Physical infrastructure: Infrastructure is mostly lacking at the level of police stations.
o According to Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) data (2020), several police stations have been
found with no wireless, no telephone and no vehicles.
o CAG audits and BPRD has found shortages in weaponry and lack of modern weaponry with state police forces.
• Technology:
o Indian Police forces have not kept pace with changes in technologies like forensics, fingerprinting, facial
recognition etc. For example, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) is facing implementation
issues like limited usage etc.
• Insufficient financial allocation: Expenditure on police accounts for about 3% state government budgets.
o Funds dedicated for infrastructure modernization are typically not utilized fully. Altogether, such fund utilization
was around 48% till 2017.
• Police-Public Relations: Police requires the confidence, cooperation and support of the community to prevent crime
and disorder. However, according to 2nd ARC Report, police-public relations is in an unsatisfactory state.

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Policing reforms that can be implemented
• Deliberations in a right direction: Agenda of DGP conferences
and other conferences which delve into policing reforms need to
shift towards addressing foundational problems.
o PM recently proposed recreating the DGsP/IGsP Conference
model at the state/district levels for
discussing new concerns and evolving best
practises among their teams.
• SMART police: The Prime Minister, at 49th
DGP conference in 2014, enunciated the
concept of SMART Police.
• Building a positive image: Community
policing model can be utilized for building
strong police-public relations and resolving
local conflicts.
o Community policing models such as
Mohalla committee in Maharashtra,
Janamaithri in Kerala, have produced
good results.
• Optimization of police personnel with
technology integration: Increasing sensitivity
of police officers and training them in
emerging technology.
o Initiatives like National Data Governance
Framework can facilitate data flow among
agencies.
• Filling legal loopholes: Repealing obsolete
criminal laws & building standards for police
organizations across states would optimize
utilization of policing energies.
o Also, prison reforms will have to be undertaken to ensure overall transformation of the Criminal Justice System.
• Cooperative policing setup: Increased cooperation between state police and federal authorities will facilitate
optimal utilization of capabilities and sharing of best practices.

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