Power, Authority and Abuse
Have you ever lost your phone? If you did, then you are one among the many hundreds whose phone is stolen or lost every day in India. What have you done about it? Did you try to report it at a police station? What about paying insurance for your phone, but were unable to claim it?
If you tried to report a lost phone in a police station, then you might have known already that you would not receive an FIR. Why is that?. Many times, the police officers might question you back about your ownership claim. In such a situation, you got no choice but to return.
As it happens, if you were unable to register a complaint of a lost phone, would you have trust to report a crime to the police? You might have seen police officers taking corruption, or asking for one directly or indirectly. What can you do then? Sometimes, the cases go without an FIR but a settlement moderated by the officers who do it for self-interest.
Why does this happen? I wondered. May be because they have more power or authority, which they can abuse? Or is it because the employees and common people have no idea about the law, but behave in their own good. For example, an employee who does not know the law, or is afraid of suspension could be forced to do unethical things. Similarly, as a common man, if you feel powerless you might be willing to accept the wrong things done to you.
Most of the times we do not get an FIR because the officer is not willing to take in the case. One way to avoid it is, separation of concerns. Any one should be able to file a report. I think police stations should be split up into two parts — one that is like a contact center, and the other a manufacturing plant. Both of them need to have minimum contact with the other. This way, you just go to a contact center and file an issue. This is awesome for any civil complaint. The data is logged, and can be used for verification. The manufacturing like unit is where the detectives should be positioned. The detectives should have little view of who is the reporter of the issue. This avoids the bias on the case. The detective may close the case if he thinks it is not valid, or send a bill for the number of hours in case of a fraudulent complaint, which again can be handled by the contact center. The contact center acts to protect the interests of the reporters. This avoids the corruption at the reporting sides. The field officers must act because it is now already registered. This does not, however, remove the problem of the field officers doing an inefficient or unethical job. This can be solved if the detectives have limited power to use weapons, force and arrests. However, the report they generate should then be validated and provided to a court to provide a judgement. Each of these need a definite time limit. The detectives may be organized to group and identify issues in various areas. They may reject a case, but it should be done so in a few days time. If they ack it, they should provide some response in a socially accepted time.
Going digital is the way to help people and systems become more transparent. Traffic officers need to be replaced by smart cameras for fines. They should be on the field to chase a serious violator, or help a casualty.
