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Drive for a quality police force

By Prashant Pandey

WHILE THE image of the Capital's police force is enhanced by constant upgradation of modern communication facilities, the claims of sophistication are reduced to gimmickry if the personnel on the ground are not professional enough. The latest recruitment drive of lower sub-ordinates is one example of ensuring that merit is the basis of inducting fresh talent in the force.

For the system to be tamper-proof, it was essential that secrecy is maintained on the ground level. At a higher level, however, all the information was consolidated. The Centre for Policy Research created a computerised system which ensured that all the records are compiled and readily available.

On the ground, however, the deployment of personnel was rotated from one centre to the other at random. "While senior police officers keep a vigil, most of the work is done by personnel of the constable and Inspector level. Rotation at random means that the middleman does not know when would the person he has fixed the deal with is going to be deployed at what point,'' says a police officer. Significantly, the system of awarding marks in various segments was structured in a such a way that there was no scope for favouritism or bias. While the written tests are for 60 marks, the interview was only for five marks. These five marks were to be awarded by the interview panel, where a candidate might be favoured. Also, the interview panel was not informed about the marks obtained by the candidate in the written tests.

Apart from that, a fixed system of marks were awarded to the candidates for excelling in areas like sports, participation in National Cadet Corps (NCC) or some other excellence; even a good height. Thus, even if somebody attempted to favour a certain candidate, he would barely a couple of marks at his disposal to tamper with.

It was also ensured that the candidates were dealt with impartially. About 1,000 candidates were allowed to appear for the tests after their applications were cancelled initially, because they had minor mistakes.

For that matter, the drive was halted for a couple of days after the grounds where the tests were being conducted became waterlogged following the hailstorm that hit the Capital this past Monday. There was no effort to scuttle the process, which ensured that the candidates appearing for the tests after the rains were not at a disadvantage.

But, there are some who might have lost on account of the centralisation of the entire procedure. "They had initially applied, but later did not turn up. Probably they could not come all the way from distant places like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and North-East region of the country,'' says a police officer.

There are some other factors also why men from distant places do not particularly prefer the job in the Capital. `They face problems of identity crisis once they come to an alien environment,'' the officer says.

This probably explains why the maximum number of applications were from the neighbouring States of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, the number of recruitments from these states is also likely to be high.

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