TRAINING POLICE PERSONNEL OF LOWER RANKS IN HUMAN RIGHTS AND ETHICS
The subject of police training in this country has been reviewed from time to time by various expert bodies. Despite this, the state of police training in the country is known to be poor. The police training institutions in this country are known to be suffering from a host of infirmities and deficiencies. A survey of 100 out of 145 police training institutions in the country done by the Bureau of Police Research and Development in June 1995 revealed a dismal picture. 23 institutions were functioning without class rooms; 18 without black boards, 16 without overhead projectors; 57 without conference rooms, 76 without seminar or assembly halls; 20 without library; 70 without auditorium; 93 without simulation facilities; 95 without forensic science units; 72 without computers; and 4 did not have even lavatory facilities. The staff posted in the police training institutions is not of the desired standards and they are short of budget. There has been hardly any significant improvement since then.
More than lack of infrastructure and other facilities, it is the culture of the training institutions, which is only a reflection of the culture of the police organisation as a whole, that fails to produce a community friendly policeman. The existing system is aimed at developing a militaristic pattern of policing, which tries to control crime and law and order disturbances, without being sensitive to the requirements of the community.
The police training must change this culture. Besides introducing other needed improvements, the training syllabus for lower ranks must be reviewed and revised. It is important that the training programme stresses the need to impart proper and adequate training in human rights and in ethics to police personnel. The present arrangements are not satisfactory in this respect.
The BPR&D’s literature shows that the duration of the Basic Training course for Sub-Inspectors and Assistant Sub-Inspectors of Civil Police is 12 months. Out of a total number of 1458 periods kept for indoor instructions, 131 periods are allotted to Module IV, which is on “Human Behaviour, Police Attitude, Police Image and Police Public Relations.” This Module consists of eight capsules, one of which is on “ Human Rights and Civil Liberties.” The subjects covered under this capsule are: “1) International Law and mechanism on protection of human rights. 2) Provisions of the Indian Constitution on human rights and provisions in various other laws. 3) Why human rights are fundamental in a democratic society? 4) Human rights organisations at international, national and local levels and their activities.”
The BPR&D’s booklet does not indicate the number of periods allotted to each capsule. The average number of periods allotted to each capsule works out to about 16 periods. Only 16 out of 1458 periods are allotted to teaching the four subjects mentioned above. This means that slightly less than 1.1 % of the total indoor training time is spent on teaching human rights subjects. The same is true of syllabus prescribed for the Constables of the Civil Police. Out of 1398 periods of indoor training, only 14 are devoted to the Capsule on Human Rights and Civil Liberty.
Thus time allotted for Human Rights training and course contents are highly inadequate. It is no wonder that the awareness and attitudes of police personnel towards human rights issues leave a lot to be desired. Recently, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an international NGO mandated to ensure the practical realisation of human rights in the Commonwealth countries, did a survey of human rights awareness and attitudes of officers of the ranks of Assistant Sub-Inspector to Inspector of Police in a couple of states. The study revealed three things- (1) General awareness of police officers about basic human rights instruments, international as well as national, is poor. (2) Specific work related awareness of human rights issues is good, but there are some gaps here too. (3) Attitudes towards human rights are wrong and are at the root of the problem.
Human Rights training can not be regarded as a mere add-on to the existing syllabus; it must be treated as the core of the training programme for all ranks. There is a common perception amongst the police personnel that human rights are an encumbrance, an obstacle to effective policing. An important aim of the training programme should be to change this perception.
Appropriate training methods will have to be designed for the lessons to go home. Methods will have to be different for different categories of officers. Class room methods will have to be varied and include not only ‘chalk and talk’ but also role plays, exercises, discussions and video presentations. The simple method of sending police trainees as decoy complainants to the police stations to lodge complaints done as a part of an experiment being conducted by the UNDP in the country is reported to have brought about significant changes in their attitudes. Novel methods like these will be more effective than conventional methods of training
Ethics is another highly neglected area of police training in this country. The syllabus of basic training course for Assistant Sub-Inspectors and Sub- Inspectors of Civil Police shows that there is a capsule on “Human Values and Moral Science” This again is one of the eight capsules comprising the Module on “Human Behaviour, Police Attitude, Police Image and Police Public Relations” The average number of periods allotted to this subject is also 16 periods. The BPR&D’s booklet of training courses does not give the break-up of subjects covered under this capsule. There is a capsule on “ Ethics in Law Enforcement & Principles of Police Misconduct” in the basic training course for the Constables of the Civil Police too. 15 out of a total of 1398 indoor training periods are slotted for this capsule, under which the subjects taught are: (1)What is Ethics? (2) Ethics and Law Enforcement. (3) Good Manners & Etiquette.
This important subject is being neglected not only in terms of time allotted to it but also in terms of course contents. Teaching policemen good manners and etiquette is needed, but it is not necessary that this will lead to ethical policing Some highly corrupt police officers are known to have been men with great manners and etiquette. Training in Ethics should also not be confused, as is generally done, with delivering of moral sermons based on teachings of religious leaders to trainees. Such training rarely proves effective.
Police Ethics should be integrated into training curriculum of different ranks not as a set of moral code or instructions, but as a set of issues relating to abuse of powers by police and the implications of abuse or misuse of powers. The training programme must address itself to the root causes of unethical conduct and teach strategies to deal with them. Training must be imparted by those who have credibility with the trainees.
