Corrupt Police Department

Police Service of Pakistan

When we hear the word POLICE what hits our mind??? Bribe, Meanness, Injustice, Corruption etc. Police department is the department having most negative and dire image in our mind. People believe that the major department of corruption is police department. By interviewing some people I come to know that there is a very common fallacy that every police officer is corrupted and mean. Nearly no one is ready to consider that this department is not corrupted at that tremendous level.

At individual level different people have different problems with police department. Like some says that they have problem with their mean behavior, some hate the habit of bribing, some have problem with their injustice and some have problem with corrupt officers.

Corruption in this department is due to our own culture and our own mistakes. Public do not behave wisely with policemen. The pay of a junior officer is very less according to current circumstances. He cannot meet the expense of his family and cannot carry out his family needs and wants. So he is forced to get corrupted and then he can easily carry on his family otherwise it is a very difficult job for him.

Another problem is of transfer. If an officer works good and revulsion corruption, he will quickly get transferred until he gets corrupted. Almost the senior or junior officers are corrupted so they do not want such person who breaks their chain.

Another problem of police department is that they are not cooperative with public. They are not well educated and that’s why they do not have good skills in communication. People say that cases are not solved in time. This is due to old technology they are having. And if there is something new introduced given to them, they would not properly trained. This is also because of poor administration. Policemen are not properly trained as army trains its soldier. Advanced technology is required for best training.

There are number of misconceptions about the police department among the people. Those misconceptions include, people think that police officers are illiterate. They have no good educational background. People have this point of view because of the behavior of police officers in front of public. They act as if they have come straight from a rural area and no manners are taught to them. Their behavior towards common people is disgusting. Their treatment is neither respectful nor polite.

One more thing that arise the suspicions in mind of people is that our police do illegitimate things which means that their doings are against the law and society. There is a common perspective among the people that police is involved in street crime, drug trafficking and many other unlawful acts.

One big misconception in the mind of people is that police officers are not selected on merit. Those officers are selected who give bribe or because they are favored by any politician or higher rank govt. officer.

In fact this is not true, every govt. employee is selected on merit but there are some cases when officers are not employed on the basis of merit but this tradition has decreased in past few years. Govt. Employees are selected through government organized tests like CSS, PCS, etc.

But when the point of solutions arises most of them stood idly. Most of them declared that changing their nature is just not viable task, some said that the officers should be cruelly treated, some said that the administration should be filtered out and strictly enhanced because the intensity of corruption is at very extreme level even if there are many good officers too. This corruption cannot be removed through small individual steps because of its intense level. Its removal needs unity and determination.

Government should make awareness among the common people that all of the police officers are selected on merit and they are well educated so they can solve the problems of people. Police should also clean their identity in front of the people. They should stop behaving like land lords in the police stations. They should meet people with respect and politeness and provide any help which people want, only then they can prove that they are worthy of doing this work.

As far as media is concerned, we clearly know that it is the main downbeat image creator of this kind of department. Media stretches a simple small point and put it against police in front of us. Media is totally biased. They only the perspective which is against the police department and shows a single sided image which creates a negative impact on us.

Another solution is that the media should act unbiased. Media should show the mistakes done by police but media is supposed to support police where needed. The pay of junior officers should be increased at a suitable level. By taking such steps they will be easily fulfilling their family needs and wants.

By: Syed Sallar Wajdan-E-Haider Pirzada Jafery

Lahore School Economics