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Police Use of Deadly Force: Analysing Police Iencounters’ in Mumbai London School of Economics and Political Science Police Use of Deadly Force: Analysing Police iEncounters’ in Mumbai Jyoti Belur A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. London, December 2007. UMI Number: U501268 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U501268 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 DECLARATION I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. 2 ABSTRACT This study analyses the dynamics of the police decision to invoke deadly force in a particular situation called encounters, using the Mumbai police as a case study. Police encounters in India are officially portrayed as spontaneous, unplanned ‘shoot-outs’ between the police and alleged criminals, in which the criminal almost invariably is killed but there are hardly any injuries on the part of the police. However the ‘cover story’ is always the same raising the suspicion that it is a cover up for facts that might not be legally defensible or permissible. The core of this study is to understand why in a free and democratic society like India, such abuse of police use of deadly force is not only tolerated, but also in many ways (both overtly and tacitly) encouraged. The study adopts a qualitative approach to understand police officers’ perspectives of the issues surrounding the use of deadly force and compares it with the perspectives of a few influential opinion makers via in-depth semi-structured interviews. A broader examination of media, social, organisational and governmental responses towards police use of deadly force helps contextualize police justifications within the Denial Theory framework and the study draws upon wider policing literature in the UK, USA, South Africa and certain Latin American countries to explain why this form of police violence occurs. The abuse of deadly force has to be understood as not only a social problem, but also a sociological one. It gives rise to fundamental questions such as - what makes ordinary, ‘decent’ human beings do horrible things? What motivational techniques and justifications are used to override social norms governing moral conduct? This problem has received little attention in the Indian context, to that extent the research will fill a gap in the existing criminological literature and allow for a more comprehensive understanding of these issues. Also, by drawing lessons from the experience of other countries who have tackled similar problems, it will provide broad guidelines and recommendations for reforms in policing policy and practice. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Stan Cohen, Professor Robert Reiner and Dr Janet Foster for their unstinting support, encouragement, advice and guidance throughout this research. All of them have contributed to my education in their own unique and individual ways and I have benefited enormously from their combined wisdom and experience. Thank you very much. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my parents Sudhindranath Belur and Urmila Belur, who have throughout the years encouraged and supported me in all my endeavours. Thank you for believing in me. I would especially like to thank my husband Vidhi Mohan and daughter Manasvini for their steady support in so many countless ways. I could not have completed this research without your steadying influence and constant encouragement. A big thank you also to my larger family and friends who kept my spirits high over the years. Finally my sincere thanks to all the police officers and participants who gave me so much of their time and commitment and helped me complete this research project. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................5 TABLES.................................................................................................................... 10 FIGURES................................................................................................................... 10 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................11 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................11 CHAPTER 1: POLICING AND THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE...........................................................................................20 1.1 Introduction................................................................................................ 20 1.2 Review of Literature: The Indian Police ..................................................21 1.3 Police Use of Force....................................................................................23 1.4 Deadly Force.............................................................................................. 26 1.5 Police Deviance or State Crime ................................................................28 1.6 Police Shootings ........................................................................................ 31 1.7 Mumbai Police and Deadly Force ............................................................33 1.8 Explaining Police Violence ...................................................................... 36 1.8.1 Individual and Situational Theories ................................................ 37 1.8.2 Organisational and Subcultural Theories ........................................42 1.8.3 Sociological and Structural Theories .............................................. 44 1.9 Use of Force - A Moral Dilemma.............................................................46 1.10 Synthesis .....................................................................................................49 1.11 Summary .....................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 2: METHODS.......................................................................................52 2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................52 2.2 Reflexive Ruminations ..............................................................................52 2.3 Access.........................................................................................................56 2.4 Interviews....................................................................................................59 2.4.1 Police Officers.................................................................................. 60 2.4.2 ‘Claimsmakers’................................................................................. 61 2.5 Sample Selection ........................................................................................ 63 2.6 Taping and Transcribing ............................................................................63 2.7 Analysis......................................................................................................65 2.8 Reliability and Validity ..............................................................................70 2.9 Ethical Issues ..............................................................................................72 5 2.9.1 Confidentiality and Anonymity ....................................................... 72 2.9.2 Power and Consent........................................................................... 72 2.9.3 Trust .................................................................................................. 73 2.10 Summary .................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER 3: THE CITY OF MUMBAI AND ITS POLICE..............................76 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................76 3.2 The City of Mumbai ................................................................................. 76 3.3 Policing in India.........................................................................................77 3.4 Organisation of the Mumbai Police ........................................................ 81 3.4.1 The Crime Branch ............................................................................ 83 3.5 Organised Crime ........................................................................................89
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