While addressing the first ever conference of district superintendents of police organised by the central government on September 1, 2005 in New Delhi, the Prime Minister stressed the need to establish a Police Performance Board.
Why is a police performance board needed?
Crime is rising fast all over the world and our country is no exception. Violent disorders in different forms, including terrorism, are occurring with regular frequency in different parts of the country. How are the police forces tackling these problems? How do they interact with citizens? What are the problems they face and constraints under which they work? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
The government as well as the public must know what their police service is doing and how it is performing. The public must know this so that they can exercise influence over the way they are policed and can see that effective systems are in place to make the police answer for their actions. The government must know how the police is doing so that they can take necessary action to improve its functioning.
Presently, the government depends mostly on what their police force tells them about their performance and the problems. Added to these are the assessment reports that the government receives occasionally from their civil administrative machinery functioning at the district and division and secretariat levels.
The main problem with these reports is that they do not provide the government an unbiased assessment of how the police have performed and the factors that have affected the performance. The attempt is often to glorify the achievements or magnify the problems or cover up failures.
What is therefore needed is to set up a Directorate of Police Monitoring and Evaluation independent of the government and the police organisation.
What are the main benefits of an independent police performance board?
1 The independent inspection reports would help in monitoring the performance of the police force, identifying the areas of weaknesses and shortcomings and ensuring that standards are maintained.
2. The Board can function like a watchdog and exercise oversight on how the police performs.
3. Since the Board has the specialised knowledge, it will provide to the government a means of getting an independent, objective and professional assessment on the working of the police force in the state and enable it to take measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the police force.
4. It will also provide to the head of the police force an independent assessment by experts who are not involved in the operations.
5. The Board can assess the results of particular programs, experiments and initiatives undertaken to improve the delivery of services
6. The independent assessment done by the board can provide a sound base for doing a more rational allocation of police resources
Recommendations of expert bodies
The need to establish police performance board has been made by various expert committees and commissions.
The National Police Commission recommended three different institutions- one to monitor performance of the criminal justice system and the others to evaluate the performance of the police force.
The NPC in its second report recommended the establishment of a Criminal Justice Commission. The Commission felt that the police would not achieve success in their work unless all wings of the criminal justice system operated with simultaneous efficiency. It was therefore necessary to set up a body, which would comprehensively monitor the performance of all agencies and apply corrective measures from time to time. They recommended further that such arrangements at the centre should be supported with similar arrangements at the state level.
In its second report, the NPC also recommended the establishment of a state security commission (SSC) to help the state government discharge their superintending responsibility over the police in an open manner so as to ensure that the police work within and under the framework of law. One of the important functions in the charter prescribed by the Commission for the state security commission was to evaluate the performance of the state police force every year and present a report to the state legislature.
In its eighth report, the Commission further recommended that the SSC should have an independent cell to evaluate police performance. In its eight report, the Commission recommended the draft of a model Police Bill and this contained provisions recommending the establishment of a Directorate of Inspection to evaluate the performance of the police forces and report thereon to the state security commission. In addition to its annual inspection report, the directorate would carry out such other duties for furthering police efficiency as the state security commission might direct.
The Padmanabahaiah Committee in their report on Police Reforms (August 2002) recommended the establishment of an Independent Inspectorate of Police to ensure that the police functioned in an efficient and effective manner. The Commission felt that this would work as an effective accountability mechanism.
Do such boards exist in other countries?
Yes, they do. Different types of boards and commissions have been set up in foreign countries with different charters. So far as monitoring and evaluation of police performance is concerned, one would like to refer here to only two such institutions - the oldest and the youngest. These are Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in the UK and the Police Board in Ireland.
Her Majesty’s Inspectors were appointed for the first time under the provisions of the County and Borough Police Act 1856. They have thus been in existence for about a century and a half. The duties of HMIs are laid down in the UK Police Act of 1996. Their main duties are two:
1. Inspect and report to the Secretary of State on the efficiency and effectiveness of every police force.
2. Carry out such other duties as for the purpose of furthering police efficiency and effectiveness as the Secretary of State may from time to time direct.
In addition to annual inspections of the police forces, HMIC does the thematic inspections where it deals with a single theme across many police forces. Both the annual and thematic reports are sent to the police chief for his comments and are published with his comments and laid by the government before the Parliament.
Until recently, the Inspectorate used to depend solely on senior police officers for its staff requirements. In October 1993, two Inspectors were appointed from non- police backgrounds to give representation to the ‘lay element’ in accordance with the Citizen's Charter principle.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board was set up by the Police (Northern Ireland) Act, 2000. The Board is an independent public body made up of nineteen members. Ten of them are members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and nine are independent members appointed through open competition. The posts are advertised in local papers and then the people who apply are interviewed. All appointments are made by the Secretary of State.
The broad objective of the Board is to secure for all the people of Northern Ireland an effective, efficient and impartial police service, which has the confidence of the whole community.
The Board has a comprehensive charter that monitors police performance not merely for ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation but also to see that the police do not violate human rights of citizens. Some major duties assigned to the Board are:
- To hold the Chief Constable to account for all his actions and those of his staff.
- To Set objectives and targets for police performance
- To Monitor progress against these
- To monitor trends and patterns in crimes
- To monitor if the police act in line with the Human Rights Act 1998.
- To oversee the workings of the internal police complaints and discipline system.
- To review the trends and patterns in recruitment to the Police Service and the progress made in recruiting women and people from different religious backgrounds.
- To negotiate with the Government to secure the annual policing budget and monitor how the Chief Constable manages this money.
Does any police performance board exist in India?
No, not now. A Police Performance and Accountability Commission was set up by the Government of Kerala on 18.11.2003 by issuing an executive order. Its charter had a two fold terms of reference:
- To evaluate the general performance of the police during the years 2002 and 2003 and make periodic recommendations on improving the functioning of the police.
- To examine the effectiveness of the autonomy given to the police in recent times, its merits and demerits and to suggest measures for further improving the functioning and accountability of the police.
The Commission consisted of justice K. T Thomas, former judge of the Supreme Court, as the chairman with Mr K.V. Rajgopalan Nair, IPS (retd) and Shri T,N.Jayacahndran, IAS (retd) as members
The tenure of the commission lasted till March 31, 2005. The Commission produced only one report at the end of its tenure. This Commission did not do any periodic evaluation of the police force. It did only one and the final evaluation at the time its tenure ended. It was not a permanent standing arrangement and thus did not provide either to the police force or the government continuous feedback on police performance and steps needed to improve policing.
What type of police board is needed?
The composition and charter of the Board must be guided by the following principles:
Independent- In its functioning, the Board must be independent of thegovernment and the police
Open- The Board must function in an open manner. It must keep the publicinformed about its work and be open to the suggestions received fromdifferent sources.
Objective- Its evaluation of police performance must be objective, based on
standards formulated and objective plans and policies with indicators of measurement prepared beforehand.
Legal base- The Board must be established on a statutory basis so that it functions as an effective monitoring and evaluating agency.
Expertise- It must have multi disciplinary expertise. Besides the police persons, it must have representation of lay element so that civic oversight of per
