Moment of crowning glory for Tamil Nadu police
The idea is we cannot have a policeman for every citizen or for that matter even for every 1,000 people.
It is a crowning glory for the Tamil Nadu Police, in particular for the Commissioner of Police Chennai City Mr Rajendran and his team that they successfully nabbed Swathi’s killer, Ramkumar, in a stunningly short period in the midst of pressure, the glare of the media and scathing and unjustified criticism of armchair critics who are not aware or conversant with the ground realities of policing. I salute the policemen for a smart job well done.
The policing system all over the world is governed by what is called Police-Public Ratio which regulates the numbers of policemen / women in a particular geographical area or the State to be on duty. It again decides the recruitment accordingly.
For instance, in Chennai City, the police public ratio as of 2015 in Tamil Nadu is 127 policemen for 1 Lakh population and in Chennai City, with a population of 98 lakhs, there are only 372 policemen for 1 lakh population as per the official records of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, New Delhi. It is obvious that both in Tamil Nadu as a whole and in Chennai City even according to this ratio is far below the requirement.
The idea is we cannot have a policeman for every citizen or for that matter even for every 1,000 people. That means every 3rd person will be a policeman or woman, which is unthinkable. This police population ratio governs the policing system all over the world.
What is relevant is the sense of security among citizens which can be ensured by the visible presence of police all over the city by slow and deliberate patrolling and with the aid of gadgets like CCTV cameras etc.
Post the Swathi murder, there was baseless and uncharitable criticism from armchair critics that police could probably have prevented this murder. It is just unimaginable. It shows that they are not conversant with the ground realities of policing.
I know from my experience that in a particular district in broad daylight a person whose mother was insulted by some other person cut the latter’s head and was walking all the way to the nearby police station with that head dripping in blood in public gaze and surrendered there. The public were just onlookers. I can quote any number of such incidents all over Tamil Nadu. Like in Swathi’s murder the entire commuting public and the staff of Nungambakkam Railway station were watching Swathi being murdered and the accused walking away. Nobody did anything to prevent it or to overpower the killer. That is the way our public react.
I have always held the view based on my experience that a majority of our people are law abiding. Only a minority are law breakers. But then the way the law breakers enact the crime gives an impression that there is a breakdown in the policing system. The reality is far from it and it is uncharitable to blame the public as well.
Apart from gadgets and patrolling, the solution lies in mobilising the law abiding group of public and involving them in a framework to assist the police. What is again important is to reassure the law abiding public that they won’t be harassed and they will be given all protection and their names will be kept confidential. There will have to be a framework of rules on this issue. Of course the rowdies, gangsters and hired assassins must be ruthlessly dealt with and given such signals that such elements must realise that breaking the law is not that easy and they cannot get away with it.