'IPS and Police services needs to be improved

Updated on: Friday, December 23, 2011

Nagaland Governor and former top cop Nikhil Kumar said that IPS officers, barring few inpiduals, have "failed" to meet the expectation placed upon them.

"My friends, please forgive me for saying this, we have failed as IPS. We have not been able to improve the image of the IPS and of the police. There may be some inpiduals in his own inpidual capacity, somewhere, doing extremely good work but the sum of the whole is that we have not been able to do what was expected of the police," Kumar said, while delivering the annual founding day lecture of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) on "good governance".

Kumar, a 1963-batch retired Indian Police Service(IPS) officer, has held top positions in various prestigious forces like NSG and Delhi Police. He was appointed as the Governor of Nagaland in 2009.

BPRD is the apex police research organisation under the Union Home Ministry which undertakes studies and scholarly works for improvement on a wide variety of policing subjects from security to health of police officials.

"The fact (is) that the constable doesn't get his due either from the government or from the public. How you are going to get the constable to improve is what I, in my humble opinion, feel is the key to improve the situation. If that happens, if the constable is in position to hold his own against the people of that area, he has self respect, then I think we will be taking a big step towards improving police
leadership," Kumar said.

Top officers of central police forces and retired IPS officers listened to Kumar in rapt attention as he, in his over an hour long speech, spoke on various issues which plague development and hinder good governance.

Among those present during the lecture were CRPF chief K Vijay Kumar, ITBP Director General Ranjit Sinha, retired IPS officers like former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, ex-IB Director P C Haldar, first lady IPS officer Kiran Bedi and the host of the event BPRD Director General Vikram Srivastava.

Kumar asked the BPRD chief to conduct a study on improving both the IPS and police services. "It's a big subject for you Vikram (DG BPRD) to do research and suggest to the government what all needs to be done and for heavens sake when you suggest to the government please don't say that revise the Police Act...that has now become passe. Isn't it?

"On the ground if at all the police image has to improve, and I would request the BPRD...and (as) there is no one from the Home Ministry here (in the conference) to bring it to the notice of the Home Ministry that (police) image will improve only if your police stations improve and the police stations in the rural country-side...," Kumar said.

"Constables...they don't even live on the police station premises they go home because there is no facility for them to stay there...they are sitting duck targets for people who would like to take over and invade the police station," he said.

'IPS and Police services needs to be improved

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