Police, good or bad? – The Students' Herald

Muhammad Azam Nagra

In Pakistan, ‘police’ is a word that evokes a dual feeling among the Pakistanis. Some feel secure upon hearing this word, and some feel insecure. This insecurity raises many questions in the minds of every Pakistani. Still, the leading question in the minds of Pakistanis is why does the Pakistani police fail to perform like their counterparts in developed countries? This question is very deep-rooted, and through this piece of writing, I will accentuate these reasons and problems behind this question. Besides this, I will also provide some solutions to these problems.

In Pakistan, every person is inspired by American and other advanced countries’ performance and expects an on-par performance from the Pakistani police. Still, these persons forget these countries’ budget for law and order is disproportionately bigger than Pakistan’s police budgets. Despite this confined budget, our expectations of the Pakistani police are very high. When the Pakistani police do not perform according to our expectations, we criticise the Pakistani police. This thing discouraged the police, and therefore, they do not perform very competently. In that situation, the Pakistani government should enhance the Pakistani police budget so that they could serve as developed countries police.

In Pakistan, honours and rewards are given by the government and the public to the cops when they do any remarkable job. Still, when they make any mistake while performing their duty, the public and government criticise the cops. An example of this contradictory behaviour can be shooting at a car that refuses to comply with police orders to stop at a check-post. If the deceased happens to be a terrorist, the police are lauded. However, when the same arbitrary firing takes a citizen’s life, the police are heavily criticised. In both cases, the institutional protocol remains the same for police officers.

This type of public and government attitude is very lethal for cops, which demoralises the cops. As a result, cops do not perform according to the expectations of the people. Therefore we should appreciate the cops in all circumstances, although if they make any mistake while accomplishing their duties because cops are those men who risk their lives every day to protect the world. According to Sidney Sheldon, “My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place, and these heroes are Police, firefighters and members of the armed forces.” Therefore cops are our heroes, and we should treat them as heroes.

In developed countries, psychological courses are furnished by the government to the police officers. After doing these psychological courses, Police officers can accept crimes from the criminals without doing any physical torture, but in Pakistan, Government does not provide these kinds of courses, and due to not providing these courses, Pakistani police have to use the traditional methods and do torture physically to the accused persons. Due to using old methods and doing physical torture, people hate the Pakistani police. Therefore psychological courses should provide to the Pakistani police so that police officers could accept crimes from the criminals and accused persons without doing physical torture so that a friendly atmosphere could be developed between the public and police.

Furthermore, in such counties the investigation department in the police force has so much importance, just like the brain has value in the body. In Developed countries, Government provides a better environment and awesome budget to the investigation department, and due to this, the investigation department performs very well and does not take any penny to the affected parties for investigation expenditures. But in Pakistan, the Government does not provide better facilities and an awesome budget to the investigation department and due to not providing an awesome budget, investigation police take money to the affected parties for completing the investigation procedure. Later on, these affected parties spread baseless information in society and impute the police for bribery. This thing broadens the gap between the police and the public. As a result, the public does not trust the police. Therefore, the government should provide an awesome budget to the investigation department so that the investigation police could complete her investigation procedure without taking money from the affected parties.

In Pakistan, the government does not supply enough petrol to the police for patrolling. Police officers fulfil the recruitment of petrol from their pocket. When police officers pay the price of petrol from their pocket. In those circumstances, mostly these officers take bribes from the public so that they can fulfil the money they had spent on the fulfilment of petrol usage for patrolling. This thing magnifies the bribery culture in the police force. Therefore the government should provide enough petrol to the police force for patrolling so that police officers do not take bribery for the fulfilment of petrol usage for patrolling.

In every developed country, the public and government offer tribute to the police martyrs. Good education, health, and many other facilities are provided by the government to the children of police martyrs. In Pakistan, According to the Pakistan forum for democratic policing (PFDP), a total of 7069 police official have embraced martyrs in the country with 1530 in Punjab,2300 in Sindh,1745 in KPK,42 in Gilgit Baltistan,49 in ICT, but the government and public do not give value to the sacrifices of these martyrs who have given their lives for the protection of our beloved homeland. Besides this, the government has also failed to provide good health, education, and other facilities to the children of police martyrs. This kind of public and government behaviour disheartens the cops and therefore, the performance of the cops is also decreased. Government and the public should offer tribute to the sacrifices of police martyrs. The government should also provide adequate facilities to the children of police martyrs.

Moreover, in Pakistan, the public compares the police with the army but the army and police have different dimensions. The army is accountable for external security and maintenance. On the other hand, police are liable for internal security and maintenance. The army has very little interaction with the public because it is liable for external security and maintenance. Still, on the other hand, police have more interaction with the public as compared to the army because police are liable for internal security and maintenance. Due to internal security and maintenance, police impose different public restrictions preventing them from doing different things. These restrictions and preventions arise from hate elements in the hearts of people. Therefore, hate elements should be eradicated in people’s hearts, and this hate element will be eradicated when people know the liabilities of the police and army. The people should know the police and the army’s liabilities to develop trustful relations between the police and the public.

Furthermore, in developed countries, digitalisation of the army’s liabilities system in the police station is being introduced rapidly. Due to this digitalisation, the progress of these countries’ police is increasing quickly. In Pakistan, the digital system is also being introduced in police stations, but the process of digitising is prolonged. Besides this, the police force has mostly inoperable vehicles, which are not used for capturing the advanced criminals who have advanced vehicles and technology. The government should increase digitalisation and deliver new and advanced vehicles and technology to the police force.

In developed countries, laws are so strict for cops. If any cop is involved in any type of corruption and crime, the judicial system severely reprimands such officers. Due to this tangible punishment, other cops do not involve in corruption and any type of crime. But in Pakistan, if any cop is involved in any kind of corruption and crime. He acquits to these cases by using different back doorways. These back doorways are becoming the reason for decreasing the progress of cops. The state should enforce stringent laws for cops, and besides this, the Back doors should also be shut down for the better performance of the police force because, according to Richard J. Daley, “The police are not here to create disorder. They are here to preserve disorder”.

Similarly, in developed countries, higher rank police officers have an awareness of lower-rank police officers’ departmental problems. Due to this, Higher rank officers try their best to solve these problems. But in Pakistan, mostly higher rank officers are unaware of these departmental problems of lower rank officers. Therefore, higher rank officers do not try to solve these problems. Due to this, the gap between higher rank officers and subordinate rank officers is increased, and the police force’s efficiency is decreased. Bridging this gap within the police force could be the first step towards larger police reforms.