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 Corruption
Inspector-General wins Queen's Award
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Dwarfed
behind a huge mahogany desk stacked with files and papers,
a senior policeman is dictating instructions to his assistant.
Picture this and you are thinking of a typical bureaucrat
getting through his day at office.
However,
there is nothing typical about Mr. K Radhakrishnan, Inspector-General
Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, in the state of Tamil Nadu,
India. The man is responsible for putting the Indian Police
Service on the world map with his project entitled 'Communal
relations management training for the police through community
engagement', winning the 2004 Queen's Award for Policing
and Innovation in Police Training and Development.
The
award, which is given once in two years, acknowledges four
of the best project proposals from police officers within
the fifty four Commonwealth countries. Out of the four proposals
three are awarded to police officers within the UK and the
remaining one goes to an officer from the rest of the Commonwealth.
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Mr
K. Radhakrishnan receiving the Queen's Award from the British
High Commissioner for Southern India, Mr Thiant Innes | |
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The fourth child in a family of five, Radhakrishnan was always conscious
of the prevailing caste system and communal tensions in his community.
"At a very early age I was witness to the brutal exploitation
of the poor and underprivileged in our village. It was from then
on that I decided to work towards a classless society and at that
time the Indian Civil Services seemed like the best opening for
me to do so," says a reflective Radhakrishnan.
Communal relations management training for the police through
community engagement
Knowing
your community: The police as a law-enforcing agency needs
to understand the historical and cultural interpretations
of the community that they are dealing with. Without proper
appreciation of these factors, police can't engage themselves
effectively.
Past
incidents: To prevent fresh incidents of police misconduct,
the police must research the past so that all the 'good lessons'
and ' best practices' are adopted to solve volatile issues.
Tapping
the resources of the Community: A constructive relationship
fostered between police personnel and community helps a lot in:
- collection
of intelligence on communal issues, impending dangers and movement
of dangerous elements;
- arrest
of the accused;
- searches
and seizures of arms and explosives;
- deactivation
of communal breeding grounds;
- media
management during crisis periods;
- anti-
communalism campaigns;
- rehabilitation
of victims of communal violence;
- disaster
management.
Community
perspective in police training: Bringing community perspective
into police training will throw new light on historical perspectives,
cultural issues, values and traditions. This will help in removing
unconscious prejudice and unintended discriminations apart from
removing crystallised bias from the minds of the law enforcers.
Documentation:
Paper work is often seen as an unnecessary evil, which consumes
time, but proper documentation is necessary for referencing in the
future.
(Extracts
from the paper)
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Having
now worked in the force for 23 long years, Radhakrishnan is well aware
of the shortcomings of police personnel in disseminating their duties.
"I have worked in communally sensitive areas; in fact my first assignment
in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu was against the backdrop of communal riots.
The police did a commendable job there, but I do realise that there is
lack of certain amount of sensitivity among us when it comes to dealing
with the underprivileged class. This project was born out of this particular
realisation."
A
man with immense responsibility on his shoulders, its not all work for
Radhakrishnan. "I love watching Bollywood movies especially the ones
which have a cop-thief concept in them," says Radhakrishnan with
a twinkle in his eyes.
His future plans include bringing about police reforms and fostering partnerships
between the police and the community to bring about more effective policing.
" Police laws in India are so archaic that engaging ourselves in
welfare activities becomes a mammoth task. I want to change that,"
says Radhakrishnan rather forcefully.
We
wish him all the luck!
Vaishali
Mishra
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