A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Police

A MIRROR TO THE POLICE A BOTTOM-UP ASSESSMENT OF THE

PAC / 1 A Mirror to the Police

2 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

A MIRROR TO THE POLICE A BOTTOM-UP ASSESSMENT OF THE KARNATAKA POLICE

Meena Nair

K. Prabhakar

Prarthana Rao

PUBLIC AFFAIRS CENTRE

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A Mirror to the Police A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

Study done by Meena Nair, K. Prabhakar and Prarthana Rao for the Public Affairs Centre and the the Karnataka Department

Public Affairs Centre (PAC) is a not for profit organization, established in 1994 that is dedicated to improving the quality of governance in . The focus of PAC is primarily in areas where citizens and civil society organizations can play a proactive role in improving governance. In this regard, PAC undertakes and supports research, disseminates research findings, facilitates collective citizen action through awareness raising and capacity building activities, and provides advisory services to state and non-state agencies.

Public Affairs Centre No. 15, KIADB Industrial Area Bommasandra – Link Road 562106 India Phone: +91 80 2783 9918/19/20 Email: [email protected] Web: pacindia.org

© 2010 Public Affairs Centre

Some rights reserved. Content in this publication can be freely shared, distributed, or adapted. However, any work, adapted or otherwise, derived from this publication must be attributed to Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore. This work may not be used for commercial purposes.

Cover Design: Images, Bangalore Printed in Bangalore at National Printing Press, Bangalore

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Contents

Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 9 Foreword 11 Executive Summary 13 Background to the study 21 Scope and Objectives 23 Methodology 23 Structure of the Report 26 Feedback from Complainants 27 Profile of the Complainants 27 Entry to a Police Station 28 Complaint Process – A protracted exercise 30 Corruption – Understated 33 Outcome and Satisfaction – no great expectations 34 Feedback from Police Personnel 36 A profile of the Interviewed Police Personnel 36 A Self-assessment of Work 38 Support – Strong Tangibles but Weak Intangibles 39 Work Culture Influences 44 Outcome and Satisfaction 48 Complaint lodging – Procedural Gaps 50 Conclusions and Policy Recommendations 52

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Follow-up Action 57 Public Dissemination of the Findings 57 Actions Taken by the DG&IGP 57

Tables

1.1 Sample size for survey 25 2.1 Profile of complainants across Ranges - Selected features 28 3.1 Proportion of police personnel agreeing to statements related to work culture 46 3.2 The complaint lodging process as reported by police personnel and complainants 51

Figures

2.1 Proportion of complainants feeling at ease about visiting a PS 29 2.2 Proportion of complainants reporting receipt of FIR/Acknowledgment copy 31 2.3 Proportion of complainants demanding FIR/Acknowledgment copy 32 2.4 Proportion of complainants reporting unhappiness with follow-up 32 2.5 Proportion of complainants reporting paying a bribe 34 2.6 Proportion of complainants reporting complete satisfaction with their overall experience with the police 35 3.1 Proportion of staff reporting ‘never’ getting a weekly off 39 3.2 Proportion of Police Stations reporting inability to use internet and other technologies 40 3.3 Proportion of staff reporting non-participation in any training progamme in the last three years 41 3.4 Proportion of staff reporting interference / involvement of people of influence in their work 44 3.5 Proportion of police personnel reporting current structure of hierarchy to be ‘very rigid’ 45 3.6 Proportion of staff agreeing to money taking practices in the department 47

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3.7 Proportion of police stations reporting closed cases 49

Annexures

Annexure 1 : Sampling Design 62 Annexure 2 : Observation Tables 64 Annexure 3 : Tables of Complainant Responses 70 Annexure 4 : Police Personnel Tables 74 Advertisements Released by the Police Department 81

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to many individuals and organizations that helped us to complete this study successfully. We take this opportunity to place on record our gratitude to them, particularly: The DG&IGP of Karnataka, Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh and the core team of KSPD comprising Sri. R.K. Dutta, IPS, ADGP, Sri. Omprakash, IPS, ADGP and Sri. A.S.N. Murthy, IPS, DIGP for their valuable guidance to the PAC PGRG team at different stages of the study. To the SHOs and staff of the police stations of Anekal, Vemgal and HAL Bangalore for cooperating with us and providing valuable inputs at the preparatory stage of our study, that shaped our data collection instruments. Our fieldwork partner organizations who have helped us in our previous field assignments as well – CAMPAIGN INDIA, Bangalore; ROOVARI – Urban and Rural Development Society, Raichur; and SAMANVAYA, , for carrying out the field survey successfully and in time, and Global Marketing Data Solutions, Bangalore for carrying out the data entry. The five hundred police personnel who shared their experiences and viewpoints with us and the District SPs who provided support to our field teams to help the police stations share their records and documents with us. All the two thousand complainants who gave their time and shared their experiences with us thus providing us with information that helped us to assess the quality of service delivery provided by the Karnataka police department. The founder of Public Affairs Centre, Dr. Samuel Paul for his constant support and guidance throughout the study, our Director Mr. R. Suresh, for his suggestions on the draft report, Mr. M. Vivekananda for his guidance in sampling design and data analysis, and our colleague Ms. Poornima for helping us in additional data analysis. Mr. Somasekhar Hawaldar, for providing details on KSPD and aspects related to work culture and assisting us in the training programme. While we are indebted to the individuals mentioned above for their contribution, we the authors are solely responsible for the opinions expressed and any errors therein.

August 2010 Meena Nair K. Prabhakar Prarthana Rao

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Foreword

Citizens depend on the police force for the enforcement of law and order, and the control of crime and violence. In Karnataka state, the Police Department has initiated several measures to make these functions more effective and citizen-friendly. We realize, however, that there is always scope for improving the way the police function and interface with the public at large. It is also possible that the traditional work culture of the police can be a barrier to further improvements. Without a systematic and independent study that examines these issues, it is difficult to arrive at an agenda for reform and change. It is against this backdrop that the authorized a study of the police work culture in the state by Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bangalore. This study is based on extensive interviews with both citizens and police officials across the State. The Police Department, with the help of the Government and the people, is determined to address the problems highlighted by this independent study and put in place improved systems and practices for the benefit of the people. The study findings, we hope, will act as a stimulus to upgrade the performance, accountability and credibility of the Karnataka Police, through actionable policies and remedies. I am extremely grateful to PAC, for undertaking this study and completing it in a timely and professional manner. I hope that this study will aid the Police Department in bridging the gap between the rising expectations of the citizens and the quality of services delivered by the Department.

August 2010 Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh Director General & Inspector General of Police, Karnataka State

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Introduction

For us at the Public Affairs Centre, success is measured by the manner in which our research and analysis of citizen experience and opinion is transformed into real change. This happens in different ways. Policy makers incorporate our findings into white papers which are shared widely, and some ideas picked up for testing, adaptation and application in specific situations. Others utilize our research to amplify and elaborate themes that they would have been working on themselves, and the resultant products are enriched and validated. In some cases, citizen bodies have found our findings useful to support their causes especially when in discussion with public service authorities. However, real success for us arises from the full expression of the term ‘constructive engagement’. This implies an interest in, and support for, the design of an evaluation system that objectively analyses a public service in totality from the point of view of the primary users of the system, in this case complainants at police stations. Further, it implies a responsibility towards full participation in the implementation of the changes that the study suggests and follow-through with regard to structural and systemic modifications that the changes will demand. An opportunity for constructive engagement arose with this bottom-up assessment of the Karnataka Police. This research began on the initiative and support of the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG & IGP) of the state of Karnataka, India. He offered us complete access to the police system and freedom in the choice of samples. At all stages in the study, the Public Affairs Centre team was supported by a core team from the Department that facilitated the progress of the study by making information and necessary documentation available in a timely manner. As the study ended, a series of meetings held with the core team and other invitees analysed the findings in a detailed manner. This enabled the formulation of corrective guidelines and measures to immediately improve the situation. Media sources were also kept informed of the progress and findings of the analysis. In sum, it became a

PAC / 11 A Mirror to the Police genuine collaboration between the Police Department, Public Affairs Centre, and the public at large. Reform measures were initiated and implemented immediately, and policy documentation to sustain these changes was prepared. PAC is thankful to the DG & IGP of Karnataka for his unstinting support to this analysis and his perseverance in bringing this analysis to its logical end with regard to policy formulation. We expect this effort to be the forebear of similar analyses across the nation to improve the transparency and accountability of public delivery systems, especially those that have conventionally been closed to public scrutiny. R. Suresh Director

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Executive Summary

Public Affairs Centre undertook a study on ‘Police Work Culture’ at the request of the Karnataka State Police Department of the Government of Karnataka. The study sought to: 1. systematically assess the quality, responsiveness and outcomes of the basic services provided by police stations to the public, 2. to generate a better understanding of the problems and constraints being faced by the police personnel in their role as service provider to the community, and 3. to assist the police department to use the information and knowledge generated through the study so that actionable policies and remedies can be formulated. The scope of the study was limited to the core services of the police stations. There are clearly other functions that the police department performs, but these did not form part of this assessment.

Methodology

The methodology adopted for the study had a three-pronged approach: Desk research, field investigation, and data analysis and interpretation. The research design consited of:aaaa a. Preparatory activities included drawing up a core team comprising top officials from the police department and senior advisers from PAC who provided guidance and support, literature review, preliminary field visits and observations and preliminary meetings between KSPD and PAC; b. Putting together of data collection instruments such as observation schedule for police stations, interview schedules for police personnel, complainant information checklist, and interview schedules for complainants;

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c. Sampling, covering all the six ranges and three commissionerates of KSPD, represented through 100 randomly-selected police stations. Five police personnel working at various levels and 20 complainants were randomly selected from each of these police stations bringing the total sample size to 100 police station observations, 500 police personnel interviews and 2000 complainant interviews. The field design included: a. Field work carried out by regional teams from three partner- organizations located at Raichur (Roovari), Shimoga (Samanvaya) and Bangalore (Campaign India). b. Three-day training programmes that involved briefing on the data collection instruments, mock call exercises, and pilot field visits for the survey teams,. c. Quality monitoring during the course of field work. PAC research team consistently monitored the field work through field visits and carried out spot checks and back checks and onsite scrutiny of filled-in questionnaires. The team supervisors also kept in contact with the PAC team for updates on a daily basis. Another round of random scrutiny was carried out once the questionnaires reached PAC. Data analysis and interpretation included: a. Entering the data collected from the 2500 interviews and 100 observations. This was done by a Bangalore-based professional agency. The reliability of estimate presented in this report is significant at 95 per cent confidence level. The margin of error is +/-2.7 per cent. b. Presenting the findings from the study to senior officials of KSPD on 22 March 2010. The presentation was followed by a brief discussion among the officials and feedback was given by the DG & IGP Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh on the findings and what immediate actions can be initiated in response to some of the findings. c. Preparing of the draft report elaborating upon the findings with policy conclusions, to be submitted to KSPD subsequently.

Major Findings

The study was completed in a period of six months at the end of which the findings were presented to KSPD. The major findings and policy conclusions are summarized below: 1. Access to police stations: The study findings show that the presence of police personnel in their seats (95 per cent) and being able to register the

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cases the same day (89 per cent) seem satisfactory. Police were also able to give acknowledgments (as mentioned by 66 per cent complainants). While these are positive features, the main problems faced by the complainants had to do with the efficiency and responsiveness displayed by the police when their complaints were being taken (an average of two-and-a-half hours for lodging a complaint and four hours to get the FIR / Acknowledgement copy). Further probing of the cases (based on exit interviews) makes one suspect that one out of two complainants failed to get his/her case registered. 2. Fear of the police: There is evidence of a significant proportion of the public not feeling at ease in dealing with the police. This probably reflects psychological barriers which have been nurtured over A significant issue is the years through the conduct of the police or the lack the high percentage of self-confidence of the citizens. This is well brought of complainants who out by the fact that in the Eastern range which has are unable to get the largest proportion of SC/ST members among the complainants, the percentage of people not at ease is information on the the highest (66 per cent). Perhaps, it also has to do status of their with the low percentage of literacy (24 per cent complaints illiterates). Whether this problem has been reinforced by the police culture or the low social status of the complainants is an issue worth investigating. 3. Weak system of follow-up: The study highlights serious problems once the investigation process starts. A significant issue is the high percentage of complainants (45 per cent) who are unable to get information on the status of their complaints. It seems that information is provided only after repeated visits (as mentioned by 64 per cent complainants) but seldom at the initiative of the police personnel themselves. Here again, the reasons behind this phenomenon needs further probing. It is possible that the police culture is not proactive towards complainants. Or it could be that overload of work limits the ability of the staff to be more responsive. 4. Existence of corruption: There is evidence of corruption that arise at the time of interaction of the complainant (9 per cent) with the police. The interviews with the police (21 per cent of respondents agreeing) also confirm the same conclusion. But the low percentages emerging from the study could be partly due to a misinterpretation by complainants on the definition of a bribe. Many ordinary citizens are likely to consider paying for investigation expenses not as a bribe but as a legitimate expense by the police to which they should contribute. This issue too needs further probing. 5. Limited awareness: The study highlights a major problem of limited

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awareness of the citizens about the procedures at the police station regarding registration (42 per cent), whom to approach (40 per cent), getting an FIR copy (53 per cent), etc. The low social and educational status of the complainant may partly explain this lack of awareness. But, as far as the performance of the police station is concerned, it is clear that no proactive steps have been taken to inform and educate the public about the steps involved in accessing a police station. Clearly this problem calls for sharing of information about police procedures and other matters that the public need to know. 6. Timeliness of case closures: Feedback from the complainants, as well as from the police, confirm that a third of the cases registered have been solved during the same year. It is difficult to judge whether this is an adequate or satisfactory outcome or not. But it is clear from the foregoing conclusions that if the problem of responsiveness, information and empathy for the average citizen are dealt with, the A highly outcome in terms of resolution of cases could be further hierarchical improved. structure does not 7. Loyalty and trust: Among the police, there are both permit much positive and negative responses. An encouraging openness to ideas finding is the high degree of loyalty and trust of the from the field to police personnel in their department (97 per cent). This is an asset on which the department can build, in order the top to achieve better performance and responsiveness of the public. That such a high level of loyalty and trust has been displayed or conveyed by the field police staff is commendable as their work-related problems as discussed below are not insignificant. 8. Rigid hierarchy: The downside of the police culture that has come out of the study pertains to the rigidity of the internal structure of the department (89 per cent). Clearly a highly hierarchical structure and discipline are in place, and it does not permit much openness to ideas from the field to the top. In a sense the structure which may have its strengths in dealing with emergency situations may act as a barrier to innovations and receptivity to new ideas from within. Similarly, there is some evidence that senior officers may not always be fair in their treatment of those below them. Two good examples are: in order to move up the job ladder junior staff curry favour with the seniors (a statement that 77 per cent police personnel agreed to); seniors tend to take credit for the work done by their lower- level colleagues (a statement that 55 per cent of the police personnel agreed to). Such unfair treatment is exacerbated by the assessment of a good majority of the staff that they are heavily overloaded in terms of work (41 per cent reporting 13-16 hours of work) and often not given the leave which

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is their right (64 per cent reporting never getting a weekly off). While the department has done well in terms of providing necessary infrastructure at the police station and other facilities needed by the staff, the management of human resources leaves much to be desired. The remedies for this very important set of problems may not necessarily lie in the formulation of new policies but rather in careful implementation of existing norms. 9. Satisfaction contrasts: One of the interesting findings of the study is the contrast between the satisfaction levels indicated by the police personnel as opposed to the satisfaction levels of the complainants. While only 47 per cent of the complainants have indicated full satisfaction with their interaction with the police, the satisfaction of the police personnel is much higher (89 per cent). In fact, public satisfaction with the police will drop significantly if the feedback of those who failed to get their cases registered is also taken into account. What is important to note Performance could here is that the assessment of the complainants reflects also be improved their experience with the services they obtain at the police station. Since the department is primarily by creating more concerned with this aspect, greater attention is to be space for given to find ways to improve citizen satisfaction level participation and not take comfort in the reported high levels of satisfaction mentioned by the staff. 10.Scope for improvement: All of the above conclusions signal the considerable scope the department has to improve service quality, responsiveness, productivity, information-sharing, and fair treatment of the poorer sections of the society. Some of the remedies are likely to be within the purview of the department to initiate simply by implementing existing policies better. Other aspects of reforms may require additional resources. The challenge for the department is to separate the different categories of steps to be taken in light of the findings presented above. 11.Work-life balance: As regards the police personnel and their performance, the key issues involved are clear. There needs to be a better work-life balance which, to some extent, can be improved by filling up the sanctioned posts, and through better human resource management. Part of their dissatisfaction could be dealt with through better implementation of the norms regarding leave compensation. In a psychological sense, their performance could also be improved by creating more space for participation as, for example, by being more receptive to their ideas and insights for improving the functioning of the department. 12.Wide regional variations: Almost all the issues discussed above vary widely across the ranges and commissionerates of the department. A large

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number of charts presented in the study shows that some ranges have done better than others. This is important to know because the policies affecting the ranges and commissionerates are uniform and resource allocations are also, perhaps, based on similar norms. Needless to say, ranges vary in their socio-economic conditions and levels of development. What these wide variations point to is the need to pay greater attention to the quality of Satisfaction scores of management, supervision, and the types of complainants are training being provided in the ranges and the significantly commissionerates. influenced by whether An interesting case is the Western Range that they received prompt stands out as a better performer in terms of and effective service complainant satisfaction with services provided at the police stations. This Range reports at the police stations maximum complete satisfaction by complainants (70 per cent as against the average of 47 per cent) which, when juxtaposed with service quality-related factors, indicates why this is so – 79 per cent complainants reporting ease in approaching police stations, 80 per cent reporting receiving the FIR/acknowledgment copy, only 25 per cent having to demand the same, and 90 per cent expressing their happiness with the follow-up process undertaken by police personnel. From the information gathered from the police personnel, it is clear that factors such as getting weekly off-days (51 per cent), being able to use the internet and other technologies during the course of their work (85 per cent), participation in training programmes (58 per cent), awareness that there are funds for their utilization (66 per cent), and solved cases (41 per cent) have created a more positive environment for the police personnel to perform their duties more efficiently. It is also seen that the police personnel here are well aware of the internal problems within the department and are open enough to admit that there are certain drawbacks - interference or involvement of people of influence in their routine work (46 per cent), existence of a ‘very rigid’ hierarchy (71 per cent) and existence of corrupt practices within the department (45 per cent). 13.Influence of service quality on satisfaction: An important finding of this study is that the satisfaction scores of complainants are significantly influenced by whether they received prompt and effective service at the police stations. Satisfaction levels are higher when their complaints are promptly attended to at the stations, they receive a copy of the FIR/ acknowledgments upon submission of the complaints, no problems are faced in their interaction with the police, no bribe had to be paid, and their cases are solved. Personal attributes such as the complainant’s education

18 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police level, gender or income did not determine the satisfaction scores of the complainants. Though satisfaction measures have an element of subjectivity, evidence from this study shows that quality of service is their key determinant.

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Background of the Study

Karnataka Police is responsible for the maintenance of law and order, internal security, assistance to citizens for the protection of their life and property, and redressal of their grievances in the state of Karnataka. The local police station is the focal point for the discharge of these functions as far as the people are concerned. Public satisfaction and approval of the functioning of the police depends a great deal on how well a police station serves the local community. The state of Karnataka is divided into six Police Ranges and three Commissionerates. The six police ranges are: Northern, North-eastern, Eastern, Western, Central and Southern. The Commissionerates are located in Bangalore, and Hubli-Dharwad cities. The ranges are further sub- divided into sub-divisions followed by circles that are seen in the Commissionerates as well. The Director-General & Inspector-General of Police (DG&IGP) is the head of the Karnataka State Police Department (KSPD). He is assisted by Assistant Deputy Generals of Police (ADGPs) at the state government level, Inspectors General of Police (IGP/Dy.IGPs) at the Range level and Superintendents of Police (SP/Dy.SPs) at the district level. Among the different types of police stations (total of 8801) in the state, there are 786 Law & Order police stations including 10 women’s police stations.2 These police stations are served by about 65,100 police personnel belonging to different ranks – Police Inspector (PI), Sub Inspector (SI), Assistant Sub- Inspector (ASI), Head Constables (HCs) and Police Constables (PCs). They perform all the duties that form part of the police station’s functions. Statistics show that one policeman in Karnataka serves a population of 802 persons as against the national average of 771 persons.3 In a state populated by about 53

1 Information downloaded from the National Crime Records Bureau. 2 Others are railway police stations (18) and traffic police stations (76) . 3 From ‘Data on Police Organisations in India – as on 01.01.2008’ brought out by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D); http://www.bprd.gov.in/ images/pdf/data-on-police/2008/chapter-1.pdf.

PAC / 21 A Mirror to the Police million people, the total number of registered cases (under IPC and SLL) was 1,47,191 in 2008, or about 2.5 percent of the total registered cases in India. It is not easy, however, to judge how well the police stations are serving the public as official records may or may not contain all the relevant information. The treatment meted out to a complainant is known only to that person and his/her experience is unlikely to be noted in any record. Besides, the decentralized nature of police work makes it difficult for top officials to track the progress of all the cases in each and every police station. This imbalance of information on the performance of the police stations and their personnel is an important barrier to the design of proper interventions and programmes to improve their functioning. In order to remedy this gap, an assessment of the The decentralized delivery of services at the level of police stations nature of police work through a random sample survey of complainants makes it difficult for and police personnel was undertaken by Public top officials to track Affairs Centre (PAC), Bangalore. While the survey of complainants focused on their experience in the progress of all the reporting and/registering and resolving their cases in each and grievances/problems, interviews with the police every police station personnel elicited their views on how well they are able to process and settle the complainants’ problems and the difficulties and constraints they face in the course of this and other every day work. The analysis of the survey data helps us to identify areas of both weaknesses and strengths in the functioning of the police. The insights generated through this assessment can thus be an aid to the top policy-makers to evolve a strategy to deal with the problems identified and thus improve the department’s performance and public image. Public Affairs Centre is a non-profit organization dedicated to the cause of improving the quality of governance in India. PAC’s focus in this regard is primarily on areas in which the public can play a proactive role in improving governance. PAC undertakes and supports research on public policy and services, disseminates research findings, facilitates citizen action support for collective action and provides advisory services to state and non-state agencies. The Centre is globally known for its pioneering Citizen Report Cards (CRCs), benchmarking studies used to improve public services, as well as their work on electoral transparency, public works quality monitoring tools and approaches, and the recently-launched audits of the Right to Information Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India. The Citizen Report Card is a simple and credible tool to provide systematic feedback to public agencies about various quantitative and qualitative aspects

22 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police of their performance. CRCs elicit information about users’ awareness, access, usage and satisfaction with public services thus bringing in the dimension of a “bottom-up” assessment of public services. CRC identifies the key constraints that users face in accessing public services, their appraisals of the quality, adequacy of public services and the quality of interactions they have with the providers of the services. In its recent applications, the CRC approach has included in its ambit other stakeholders such as service providers themselves, as well as community representatives to bring about a balanced approach and comprehensiveness to the service(s) being covered.

Scope and Objectives

The scope of the study is limited to core services of the police stations. There are clearly other functions that the police department performs, but these will not form part of the present assessment. The objectives of the study were to: 1. Systematically assess the quality, responsiveness and outcomes of the basic services provided by police stations to the public; 2. Generate a better understanding of the problems and constraints being faced by the police personnel in their role as service provider to the community, and to 3. Assist the police department to use the information and knowledge generated through the study so that actionable policies and remedies can be formulated.

Methodology

The Research Design The research strategy for the study comprised the following modular steps:

Preparatory Activities This included drawing up a core team comprising top officials from the police department and senior advisers from PAC who provided guidance and support through the course of the study. A brief but comprehensive literature review was carried out which looked at some of the studies carried out in other states of India related to police behaviour and their work. A detailed study of the Karnataka Police Manual was done to understand the duties of the department and the entitlements of the personnel. However, the team did not find studies which looked at complainant perspectives or experiences, except for anecdotal references in

PAC / 23 A Mirror to the Police newspapers and journals. This study sought to fill that gap. For a better understanding of the issues related to the functioning of the department at the police station level, preliminary field visits and observations were carried out at rural, town and city police stations – Vemagal, Anekal and stations, respectively. One of the PAC study team members also attended a workshop conducted by the police department in Bangalore about their work culture. Meetings were held at various stages of the study with the core group and with the DG&IGP to identify issues that needed to be addressed in the study, to finalise the data collection instruments and to discuss the sampling design. These activities helped PAC to develop an appropriate strategy that would address all the objectives of the study by representing them through relevant questions in the interview schedules. Questionnaire Design Data collection thus encompassed not just the users but also the implementers. The instruments were accordingly designed to suit the purpose. Four sets of data collection instruments were designed, which included observation schedules and interview schedules, as under: w Observation Schedule for Police Stations w Interview Schedules for Police Personnel w Complainant Information Checklist w Interview Schedules for Complainant The scope of the data collection instruments covered the following: w Availability of the service w Access and usage of the service w Service quality and reliability w Problem incidence, responsiveness and problem resolution w Costs, including corruption w Satisfaction Along with these, the interview schedule for police personnel also included a section on their morale, attitudes and work-life balance. Sampling Design The sampling design was as follows: w The survey covered the entire state of Karnataka which comprise six ranges and three commissionerates. While all the three commissionerates are covered in the study, 50 percent of the districts 24 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

were selected (15) through random sampling to represent the six ranges of the state. w Sub-divisions/Circles/police stations for the study were also selected using the random sampling method. w Complainants were selected randomly from the registers kept at the selected police stations and interviewed in their homes. w The police personnel to be interviewed were selected from the same set of police stations included in the sample. The personnel comprised inspectors, sub-inspectors, head constables, constables and writers. The sample size for the study is given in Table 1.

Table 1.1 : Sample Size for Survey Sl.No. Details of Interviews Numbers 1. Observation of Police Stations 100 Police stations for 6 ranges 82 Police stations in Mysore Commissionerate 3 Police stations in Hubli-Dharwad Commissionerate 2 Police stations in Bangalore Commissionerate 13 2 Interview with Police Personnel 500 Police personnel per station 5 3 Interview with complainants 2000 Complainants per police station 20 Total Interviews 2500

Field Work and Quality Assurance

Regional teams from PAC’s partner organizations consisting of members from the respective districts - Bangalore, Shimoga and Raichur - with prior experience in conducting such surveys were selected to carry out the field work. Three-day training programmes for each of these survey teams were carried out in three centres – Bangalore (5-7 November 2009), Shimoga (10-12 November 2009) and Raichur (18-20 November 2009). The training programme involved briefing on the data collection instruments, mock call exercises, and pilot field visits. The programme also involved separate sessions among the supervisors regarding interaction with the police personnel and quality assurance processes. The field work started soon after the training programmes

PAC / 25 A Mirror to the Police were conducted and was completed by end of January 2010 in all selected police stations. During the course of field work, PAC research team consistently monitored the field work through field visits and carried out spot checks and back checks and onsite scrutiny of filled-in questionnaires. The team supervisors also kept in contact with the PAC team for updates on a daily basis. Another round of random scrutiny was carried out once the questionnaires were received at PAC before data entry.

Data Entry and Analysis

Data collected from the 2500 interviews and 100 observations were fed into the computer by a Bangalore-based professional agency. The reliability of estimate presented in this report is significant at 95 percent confidence level. The margin of error is +/(-)2.7 percent.

Presentation of Findings

The findings from the study were presented to senior officials of KSPD on 22 March 2010. The presentation was followed by a brief discussion among the officials and feedback was given by the DG&IGP, Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh on the findings with suggestions for immediate actions that can be initiated in response to some of the findings.

Structure of the Report

The report is divided in to four chapters. The first chapter is the introduction chapter which details out the project objectives, the methodology and the sampling details. The second chapter gives the findings from the feedback of complainants. The third chapter gives the findings from the feedback of police personnel and the fourth gives the conclusions and recommendations.

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Feedback from Complainants

Every service provided by the government has its own set of users. In the case of the services provided by the is the complainant, who, on being confronted by a problem goes to a police station to lodge a complaint. This chapter analyses the information collected from the complainants who, in this study, comprise those who have registered their complaints and have their details in the Crime Register, the official complaint registration book maintained in every police station.

Profile of the Complainants w Gender: Most of the complainants were men (79 percent) while the rest were women. w Religion and Caste: While 86 percent of the complainants were Hindus, 11 percent were Muslims. The caste composition mainly comprised Forward Caste (37 percent), and Backward Caste (33 percent), followed by Scheduled Castes (17 percent), Minorities (9 percent) and Scheduled Tribes (5 percent). w Age group: The average age of the complainants was about 38 years. w Education: Less than one-fifth of the complainants were illiterates (19 percent), another one-third had completed middle/upper primary (34 percent), 37 percent had completed secondary/PUC and 12 percent were graduates and post-graduates. w Occupation: About 46 percent of the complainants were cultivators, 26 percent petty business/shop owners, 17 percent were occupied in various services (Government/Private) and 12 percent were unemployed/not working. The large majority of complainants are low-income, less educated and disadvantaged citizens. It is truly the ‘Aam Aadmi’ who seeks the intervention and assistance of the police.

PAC / 27 A Mirror to the Police

Table 2.1 – Profile of complainants across Ranges* - selected features

Proportion of… CM CS W E N NE Total Illiterates (%) 4.0 13.6 21.9 8.5 23.8 17.7 46.1 18.8 Graduates and above (%) 20.3 5.4 10.8 7.3 4.6 13.3 5.7 10.2 Cultivators/ agri and non- 7.5 48.6 48.1 51.9 62.7 45.3 60.4 44.6 agri labourers/ both (%) SC / ST (%) 10.6 22.9 17.5 16.9 43.6 17.2 28.5 21.9 Average monthly 8084 4383 3695 4845 2915 3963 2268 4480 income (Rs.)

Note: Further distribution by occupation, education and caste are given in the Annexure.

Entry to a Police Station

The whole process of lodging a complaint begins with making the decision to lodge a complaint at the police station. Lodging a complaint – not a frightening task… w More than one-third of the complainants went to the police station to lodge complaints on matters related to quarrels/disputes (31 percent), followed by accidents (26 percent). w More than two-thirds of the complainants reported that they felt free to visit the police station. This was highest in the Southern Range (88 percent) and lowest in the Eastern range (34 percent). It is interesting to note that the Eastern Range has the highest proportion of complainants belonging to SC/ST (Table 2.1), who are generally at the lowest rungs of the society and would be least comfortable dealing with authorities such as the police. More than half of the complainants (53 percent) decided to lodge their complaints after discussing this with neighbours and relatives, while another 42 percent took this decision on their own. w However, 58 percent of the complainants were not aware of the process of registering a case; they also did not know who to contact at the police station to file a complaint (60 percent).

*CM – Commissionerates; C – Central; S – Southern; W – Western; E – Eastern; N – Northern; NE – North Eastern.

28 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

w In spite of this lack of awareness and lack of display of any information to guide citizens on the process of registering complaints, more than half the number of of complainants visited the police station themselves (52 percent) and some with neighbours and relatives (45 percent). w Upon entering the police station, 95 percent of the complainants found the staff available in their seats; 89 percent reported that someone from the police station did attend to them immediately and that the person listened to their complaint (99 percent) as well.

Fig 2.1 : Proportion of complainants feeling at ease about visiting a PS

88 79 77 73 71 67 70

34

CM C S W E N NE T

w Among those who were not attended to immediately, 58 percent had to wait for up to half an hour, while 32 percent waited for up to an hour to talk to someone about their complaint. Reasons given by the police for not attending to them immediately were mainly about attending to other urgent work (60 percent) followed by those asking them to wait for the senior officer to arrive (29 percent). Non-registration of complaints – disturbingly high… During the study it was observed that there is a problem of complainants not being able to register their complaints in a police station. In a further extension exercise to understand this phenomenon, PAC carried out exit interviews among visitors* of 21 of the selected 100 police stations. Altogether, 104 exit interviews were conducted, and the findings are as follows: w Nearly 40 percent of the respondents had come to follow-up on complaints they had lodged previously.

*Comprised percent of current and potential complainants only.

PAC / 29 A Mirror to the Police

w Rest of the respondents had come to the police station to lodge a complaint. Of them, 51 percent got their complaints registered, while the remaining 49 percent were not able to get their complaints registered. This clearly indicates a ratio of 1:1 in terms of registered vs. non- registered complaints. w Among those who got their complaints registered that day, less than two-thirds of the complainants (62 percent) got an acknowledgment/ FIR for their complaint. w According to information collected from those who could not get their complaints registered, reasons given by the police for not registering their complaints that day included wanting to carry out preliminary enquiries first (42 percent), unavailability of the SHO (36 percent), and trying for a compromise (23 percent). w When asked what they plan to do next, 55 percent said that they would continue to come to the police station; 13 percent said that they would approach the community leader, while 23% said that they would not pursue the matter. Interestingly, they were the same respondents who also admitted to agreeing to a compromise with the opposite party.

Complaint Process – A Protracted Exercise

This process includes the act of lodging the complaint and following up on the same till it reaches its conclusion. w In most cases, the complainants were able to lodge their complaints on the first visit itself (84 percent) and on the same day (89 Why non-registration percent). of complaints? w An average of two-and-a-half Interviews with complainants who could not get hours was taken to register the their cases registered on the same day at police complaint. The time taken stations reveal that more than half of them had visited the police stations earlier as well in an varied between an average of attempt to register their cases; none of them 3 hours in the commission- was refused, only asked to come later; the type erates to one-and-a-half hours of cases that they wanted to register were no in Western Range. different from those who were successful in w In more than half the number getting their cases registered. When people are of cases (53 percent), the staff kept in suspense, they tend to make repeated wrote the complaint (85 visits to the stations. percent in North Eastern and If people are made aware of what can and 61 percent in Northern cannot be registered, repeat visits by them can Ranges), and 30 percent of the be minimized.

30 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

complainants wrote their own complaints. w For those whose complaints were recorded by the staff, one-fourth of the complainants have reported that the complaint was not read out to them after writing / recording. w The fact that after registration of their complaints, the police station is supposed to give a copy of the FIR / Acknowledgment was something that almost half the number of complainants (47 percent) were unaware of. w However, two-thirds of the complainants did get a copy of the FIR / Acknowledgement after lodging their complaints, while the rest did not get any receipt at all.

Fig 2.2 : Proportion of complainants reporting receipt of FIR/Acknowledgment Copy

84 80 72 67 66 58 34 48 49

CM C S W E N NE T w Interestingly, 34 percent of the complainants who got the FIR copy were not given the same voluntarily, but had to demand the FIR copy. Nearly 50 percent of the complainants had to do so in the case of Eastern Range. w It took an average of about four hours to get the FIR / Acknowledgement copy. The waiting period was as high as almost five-and-a-half hours in the case of the Southern Range. w Fortunately, more than two-thirds of the complainants found the process of lodging a complaint a simple affair than a difficult one. w At this stage of the complaint process, 13 percent of the complainants faced problems during the course of their interaction with the police personnel (highest in the Eastern Range with 21 percent reporting problems, probably the social composition factor of the complainants, PAC / 31 A Mirror to the Police

Fig 2.3 : Proportion of complainants demanding FIR/Acknowledgment copy

50

38 37 34 29 31 25 27

CM C S W E N NE T

largely from the lowest caste, coming into play). w The nature of problems included lack of immediate response (55 percent), lack of interest in registering the case (30 percent), trying to force a compromise (28 percent, unusually high in the Eastern Range with 52 percent complainants reporting the same) and asking the complainants to make repeated visits (25 percent and 46 percent in the Commissionerates). w Having lodged the complaint, interestingly, only 55 percent of the complainants said that they were aware of the status of their complaint. Fig 2.4 : Proportion of complainants reporting unhappiness with follow-up

41 40 40

33 33 32

18

10

CM C S W E N NE T

32 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

w Nearly eight percent of the Need to improve complainants faced problems in the registration process terms of repeated visits to the police While the average time taken to register station, being under pressure to a complaint was 1 ½ hours, it has taken take back their case and finding a complainant only 1 hour and 45 minutes people in powerful positions in the Western Range, while in one of the influencing the police and their police stations in the Central Range, it cases. took a complainant nearly 3 hours to w Nearly half the number of register a complaint. complainants took other routes to Getting an FIR / acknowledgment copy get their problems resolved; these also has taken even more time. While the included meeting with the caste/ average time taken is 4 hours, one of the community leaders (44 percent), complainants in the Western Range has reported that he/she had to wait for about the SI/Inspectors (19 percent), 2.45 hours to get the FIR; it took a political leader, and with the SP/ complainant 5.40 hours to get an FIR/ CP of the district (both 14 percent). acknowledgment copy in the Southern However, 62 percent of the complainants still could not get their problems resolved. w As a consequence, nearly one-third of the complainants who faced problems have expressed unhappiness with the way their problem was addressed by the department.

Corruption – Understated

Interestingly, the most universally-discussed and disputed aspect about the police – bribery practices – has gone unreported with not many complainants admitting to having experienced any corruption. w Only nine percent of the complainants reported that they had to pay a bribe to the police to get their work done. In nearly half the number of cases, this was demanded. The low proportion of corruption can also be partly explained by the fact that many people consider paying money for activities such as investigation or enquiry is not a bribe. w Complainants who reported paying a bribe were those who had lodged complaints regarding theft (27 percent), followed by petty quarrels (26 percent), and accident cases (18 percent). w Some of the purposes for which extra money was paid include payment for conducting the enquiry faster (30 percent) and to nab the accused (20 percent). The reasons given by the police, on the other hand, for taking the money were to make arrangements for investigation (76

PAC / 33 A Mirror to the Police

Fig 2.5 : Proportion of complainants reporting paying a bribe

17

9 8 8 8 7 5 5

CM C S W E N NE T

percent), for personal needs (21 percent), and for station maintenance (10 percent). w The average bribe amount given was about Rs. 2,100. The highest was in the Northern range at Rs. 3,600 and the lowest in Western Range at Rs. 920. w Interestingly, 58 percent of the complainants who paid the bribe said that their work was still not completed even after having paid up what was asked.

Outcome and Satisfaction – No Great Expectations

A prolonged complaint-lodging process and poor follow-up have left the complainants with not a very happy taste of their experience with the police. w Having lodged their complaints, only 55 percent of the complainants expressed awareness regarding the status of their complaint; the rest had no information with them reflecting the lack of any evidence of proactive advice. w A slightly disturbing outcome was the finding that in less than 10 percent of the cases there was a difference between complainants’ version of the complaint and description of the case recorded in the case file. w Nearly two-thirds of those who were aware (64 percent), got to know about the status of their complaints only when they visited the police station, with 50 percent reporting upto two visits and 38 percent three to five visits. Among those who were informed by the police personnel, 28 percent of the complainants reported occasional visits, 28 percent 34 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

reported weekly, and 25 percent reported monthly visits, indicating lack of consistency / norm that could be made universally applicable. w Among those who knew the status of their complaints, 35 percent reported that their cases have been solved and closed, while for 33 percent said their cases have reached the court. About 13 percent of the cases were still under investigation and 12 percent were not solved, but had been closed. Reasons for these complaints still being unresolved

Fig 2.6: Proportion of complainants reporting complete satisfaction with their overall experience with the police

70 65 65

49 47 37 26 16

CM C S W E N NE T

seemed to be due to the inability of the police personnel to trace the accused (35 percent) and lack of sufficient evidence (25 percent), thus stretching the cases for almost a year (at the time of fieldwork of this study). w The difficulties faced by complainants is clearly reflected in their expression of complete satisfaction with various aspects of service delivery by the police. Only about half or less than half the number of complainants were completely satisfied with aspects such as helpfulness of staff (52 percent), interest of the police in solving their problems (49 percent) and their own overall experience (47 percent). w Nearly 40 percent of the complainants (39, to be precise) have reported police personnel coming to their locality and carrying out people friendly programmes. Lastly, in spite of their unhappy experiences with the police, more than three- fourths of the complainants (78 percent) expressed their trust in the police department.

PAC / 35 A Mirror to the Police 3

Feedback from Police Personnel

As mentioned in the introductory chapter, the main objective of this study has been to assess the process and quality of services provided by the police stations to the public and in the process attempt to understand the problems and constraints faced by the police personnel while discharging their duties. The knowledge generated through this exercise would provide the basis of actionable policies and remedial measures. This chapter analyses the information collected from police personnel through interviews carried out at various levels in selected police stations across the state of Karnataka.

Profile of Personnel Interviewed

A quick analysis of the general demographic details collected from the police personnel reveals the following: www Gender: The field work exercise involved selection of at least one female staff member from every police station. However, due to non-availability of female members in some police stations at the time of interviews, the ratio of male to female staff members was 83:16, respectively. www Levels: One staff member from each of the five levels was selected unless there were cases of non-availability. Accordingly, the proportion of staff members interviewed were: Circle Inspectors/Police Inspectors (CI/PI) – 7 percent; Sub-Inspectors (SI) – 18 percent; Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASI) – 17 percent; Head Constables (HC) – 22 percent, and Police Constables (PC) – 36 percent. www Age group: Almost one-third of the police personnel were in the age-group of 26 to 35 years (31 percent) and another one-third in the age group of 46 to 55 years (31 percent). While the same equation applies to police personnel of ASI rank and below, a substantial proportion (44 percent) of those in the SI-and-above cadres were in the age-group of 26 to 35 years.

36 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

www Education: More than one-third (37 percent ) of the police personnel were found to be graduates with another 27 percent having completed SSLC. Among those in the SI-and-above cadre, 56 percent were graduates and 29 percent post-graduates; among those at the ASI rank and below, the proportion of educational qualifications were equally distributed among those having completed graduation (31 percent), PUC (30 percent) and SSLC (33 percent).

www Experience: Work experience of the police personnel is categorized as follows: §§§ In the police department: Almost one-fourth (24 percent ) of the police personnel interviewed have been working in the More than half of the department for 11 to 20 years; another one-fourth (24 percent) for more than 30 years, followed by 22 percent female members who have joined the department in the last five years. have been recruited Interestingly, more than half of the female members (54 within the last five percent) have been recruited within the last five years years indicating an indicating an increasing trend in the recruitment of increasing trend in female personnel in the department. In terms of cadre, the recruitment of 53 percent SI-and-above ranks joined the department in female personnel the last 10 years as against 31 percent recorded for ASI rank and below.

§§§ Under the current designation: Almost half the number (49 percent ) of police personnel interviewed have been in the same designation or post in the past two to five years, while another 26 percent for the past six to 10 years. One-fifth of those in the rank of ASI and below have reported being in the same post for more than 11 years as against only six percent reporting the same among those in the rank of Sub-Inspector and above.

§§§ In the current police station: More than 40 percent of the police personnel have been posted to their current police station within the last one year, while 30 percent mentioned that they were posted two to three years back. Almost 97 percent of those in the rank of SI and above have been posted to their current police stations in the last three years as against 64 percent of their subordinates.

www Access: Almost 80 percent of the police personnel have their current residence in the same place as the police station. Modes of transport used to reach the police station include personal vehicle (37 percent) and bus (24 percent). Around one-third of the staff also walk to reach the police station.

PAC / 37 A Mirror to the Police

A Self-assessment of Work

This section looks at the feedback received from the police personnel in terms of assessing their own work and factors that play important roles in their performance of duties. Duties – All work and no play Multi-tasking is a general feature among the police personnel at all levels, compounded by increasing workloads at the cost of general entitlements such as weekly off-days and leave. § More than one-third of the police personnel have reportedly been assigned three or more duties at the same time in the department. These include general duty Multi-tasking is a (79 percent), bandobast and escort duty (49 general feature percent), enquiry/investigation (44 percent, with 67 percent of the SIs and those above among the police reporting the same, against 37 percent of the personnel at all ASIs and those below), writer’s duty (36 levels percent), and duty (26 percent). § Information elicited on work hours indicate that more than 40 percent of the staff put in 13 to 16 hours of duty on a normal day. This is the highest in the Commissionerates (50 percent); 45 percent police personnel in the Eastern range put in 17 to 24 duty hours presenting a worse-case scenario than the others. Between the two cadres, SI and those ranked above have reported more working hours (60 percent reporting 13 to 16 hours and 13 percent, 8 to 12 hours) than ASIs and those ranked below (35 percent reporting 13 to 16 hours and 47 percent, 8 to 12 hours). § Weekly off-days, an entitlement stipulated for all government employees, is reportedly ‘never’ given regularly to 64 percent of the police personnel; this has been reported by more than 80 percent of the personnel interviewed in the Commissionerates and in the Southern range. The situation is somewhat alarming among the higher levels, where 96 percent of the Sub-Inspectors and those ranked above have reported this, against 54 percent of the ASIs and those ranked below. § Allowance to take leave is mainly given only once in 2 or 3 months as reported by nearly 45 percent of the police personnel, while 20 percent get this once in a month. Nearly one-fifth of the SIs and those ranked above have reportedly ‘never’ been allowed to take leave as against seven percent in the ASI cadre and below.

38 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

Fig 3.1 : Proportion of staff reporting ‘never’ getting weekly off-days

80 82 74 64 57 59 49 43

CM C S W E N NE T

§ Monetary compensation for not getting weekly off-days has been received by 61 percent of the police personnel, in the form of half-month or one-month salaries, implying thereby that the remaining 39 percent have not received any monetary benefits. The latter has been reported more in the Commissionerates and Northeast range (53 percent each), and among the higher levels (54 percent SIs and those ranked above as against 35 percent of ASIs and those ranked below). § However, on a positive note 82 percent of the staff still reported that they were able to discharge their duties with the current station strength. Variations between the two levels (SI and above vs. ASI and below) indicate that three-fourth of the former believe that this is done as against 85 percent of the latter. § Among those who felt that discharging duties with the current station strength was difficult, the main reason being many vacant posts not being filled up (69 percent), a step that should be taken immediately (38 percent) for them to carry out services more efficiently.

Support – Strong Tangibles but Weak Intangibles

Solid infrastructural facilities are in place to provide work comfort but lack of human development support within the department seems to be plaguing the system. w Overall physical infrastructures seem to be satisfactorily in place as observed during the visits to the police stations. § Pucca building – 91 percent.

PAC / 39 A Mirror to the Police

§ Well-maintained with potted plants – 66 percent, though enough space to keep vehicles was observed in only 68 percent of the police stations. § Clearly visible station board – 96 percent, though sufficient lighting was observed in only 68 percent of the police stations and proper lighting equipments such as gaslightslanterns/torches were observed in only 57 percent of stations. § Working telephones – 100 percent. § Computers – 100 percent. § Internet – 69 percent, though 33 percent of the stations reported inability to use the internet properly during the course of their work, the proportion going as high as 62 percent in the Southern range and 54 percent in the Eastern range.

Fig 3.2 : Proportion of police stations reporting inabilityto use internet and other technologies

62 54

36 36 33

20 17 15

CM C S W E N NE T

§ Drinking water facility – 80 percent. § Toilet facility – 91 percent, though separate toilets for the female personnel was observed in only 45 percent police stations. § Display of duty board – 80 percent, with daily reporting of duty allocation – 68 percent. § Maintenance of crime register, crime key, and other registers - >95 percent. It was disturbing to note that in terms of staffing, there was a shortage of staff in a substantial number of police stations. On an average there was a shortage of six percent staff – the Western Range reported the highest (11 percent)

40 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police followed by the Commissionerates where nine percent of the posts were yet to be filled up. www Internal support from various sources within the department are yet to reach and benefit all police stations and police personnel as indicated from the feedback collected. § Training programmes have been attended by more than half the number (53 percent) of interviewed personnel in the past three years. More than 30 percent of the personnel have reported attending two programmes. However, these have mostly been related to building up of computer skills and not honing human skills.

Fig 3.3 : Proportion of staff reporting non-participation in any training progamme in the last three years

56 51 54 46 47 42 41 35

CM C S W E N NE T

§ The reasons cited by those who did not attend any training programmes (47 percent) include not getting an opportunity to attend one despite being interested (63 percent), and not being allowed to attend because of insufficient staff strength (11 percent). § Nearly 31 percent of the personnel feel that they would benefit from computer training exercises. Other areas where training exercises would be welcome include application of new technologies to resolve cases (10 percent), updating on enquiry and investigation methods (9 percent), matters related to legal and civil procedures (8 percent), cybercrime (5 percent), and so on. § Appreciation for the work done so far as a mechanism of internal support has been received by 70 percent of the police personnel. This has been through formal means such as cash rewards (68 percent), ‘good work’

PAC / 41 A Mirror to the Police

entry in service records (49 percent) as well as informal means such as public acknowledgment (40 percent), and praise from superior officers (37 percent). It is to be noted that nearly one-third (30 percent) have also not received any appreciation – this is more among ASIs and those ranked below (36 percent) as against SIs and those ranked above (14 percent). However, more than three-fourths (79 percent) of the personnel interviewed have reported satisfaction with the current mechanism of recognizing good work. § In terms of support from the reporting higher officer, nearly 88 percent of the personnel have reported getting all the necessary support; 81 With regard to percent have rated their support as ‘good’, investigation funds, while the remaining 19 percent have rated almost all police this as ‘average’. However, it was observed stations have been that the pattern of visits from senior officers allocated this fund to these police stations was quite skewed - the Visiting Officers Board showed that only 24 percent of police stations had recorded visits from senior officers in the first three quarters of 2009, thereby indicating neglect and lack of providing any consistent motivational support. The remaining 76 percent of police stations had visits in the last quarter of 2009 only. § As is known, funds are provided to every police station for the smooth running of the station and its duties. These funds include investigation funds and the recently-introduced contingency funds. ¤ With regard to investigation funds, almost all (98 percent) police stations have been allocated this fund, with 94 percent reportedly having received the same (comparatively, 83 percent of police stations in the Eastern range have received investigation funds), and on a regular basis (88 percent by all police stations, except those in the Eastern range where only 75 percent of the stations have reported regular receipts of investigation funds). Only 62 percent of the police stations receiving investigation funds feel that this amount is sufficient quoting an average additional requirement of Rs. 7,200 to manage (in addition to the average Rs. 9,700 received). ¤ With regard to contingency funds, only 52 percent of police stations have reported allocation of the same - this, interestingly, being highest in the Eastern range (96 percent). Of these, 98 percent of the stations have received this fund, all on a regular basis. On an average, Rs. 2,770 has been received as contingency fund but almost 62 percent of the stations feel that this amount is insufficient and require an

42 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

additional average amount of Rs. 2,419 to manage. ¤ When asked of the police personnel about their awareness of these funds, more than 40 percent of them (44 percent) were not aware (this was more among ASIs and those ranked below (53 percent) than among SIs and those ranked below (15 percent). Among the rest who were aware, 77 percent mentioned that the funds were utilized for meeting investigation expenses - for buying stationary (73 percent) and for maintaining the police station (42 percent). However, there is a felt need for better infrastructural facilities/funds as expressed by more than three- When asked about fourths of the police personnel (77 percent); these their awareness of include vehicle and transport facilities (41 percent), these funds, more providing for living quarters (31 percent), good quality infrastructural facilities including furniture, than 40 percent of toilets and weapons as well (15 percent), funds for them were not aware enquiry-related expenses (10 percent), and for training programmes (8 percent).

www External support of various types is received but is considered ‘interfering’ in some cases. § Existence of Citizen Committees indicating community involvement, has been acknowledged by 93 percent of the interviewed police personnel. Of them, 97 percent have reported that these Citizen Committees hold regular meetings and 94 percent have participated/observed a meeting at some point of time. Majority of the personnel (92 percent) also feel that the Citizen Committees support the activities of the police department. § More than two-thirds of the police personnel (67 percent) have reported that their department works with other departments to prevent organized crime. Among the rest, 71 percent felt that there is no need to partner with other departments, while 23 percent thought that it would be difficult to coordinate work with other government departments. § There have also been external factors such as people of influence involving themselves or interfering in the course of work of the police personnel; more than one-third of those interviewed (37 percent) experienced or have come across such instances. These influential people mostly comprise local politicians (90 percent), caste/community leaders (46 percent), and higher police officers, to some extent (14 percent). They are considered to be more of a hindrance as expressed clearly by 62 percent of those who experienced such influences (highest in Central and Southern ranges with more than 70 percent reporting the same),

PAC / 43 A Mirror to the Police

with 54 percent also reporting that they have seen their higher officers being affected by their interference/involvement. § Just about two-thirds of the number of police personnel (66 percent) feel that print and electronic media report police-related activities in an unbiased manner, as they come out with facts as reported by the police.

Work Culture Influences

Fig 3.4 : Proportion of staff reporting interference / involvement of people of influence in their work

46 40 40 40 37 35 31 29

CM C S W E N NE T

This section assesses the attitude and beliefs of the police personnel reflecting the factors that most influence their work in the police department. Personal Life – Comfortable but more support required w More than three-fourths of the police personnel (77 percent) have their families staying with them. Reasons given by the rest for not having their families with them include children’s education (31 percent), not wanting to uproot their families from their native places/villages (22 percent) and not getting police quarters (17 percent). w Support at the personal level coming from the police department includes housing, health, education and recreation facilities. While housing (66 percent) and health care (80 percent) have been acknowledged by most of the staff, a little less than one-third have reported receiving any educational support for their children (31 percent). w At times of any family need or crisis, less than half the number of personnel interviewed (45 percent) reported any departmental support; Of those

44 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

reported support, it came mainly in the form of counselling (61 percent), followed by financial help (31 percent). Support expectations from the department include timely provision of leave (30 percent) and financial help through loan facilities (18 percent). Department Structure – Rigid top-down approach w Based on their experience in the police department, more than three-fourths of the police personnel (77 percent) believe that following departmental rules and regulations is the right approach to discipline, though 25 percent of them also believe that the term ‘discipline’ comprises obedience to superior officers. However, 91 percent feel that the current discipline system in the department is helping them to perform better, since it helps them to do proper work (31 percent) on time (14 percent) without any negligence. w Feedback received on the current structure of hierarchy in the police department indicate the existence of a rigid structure as expressed by almost 90 percent of the police personnel (‘very rigid’ by 57 percent and ‘somewhat rigid’ by 32 percent). At the same time, 92 percent of the personnel are agreeable to the current hierarchical structure with suggestions that there be no partiality and all personnel be given the same respect.

Fig 3.5 : Proportion of police personnel reporting current structure of hierarchy to be ‘very rigid’

71 72

60 57 53 51 51 43

CM C S W E N NE T

w The above two aspects get reflected in the response received when asked if they were given any opportunity in the department to come up with new or innovative ideas to act upon. More than 90 percent of the police personnel said that they did not receive any such opportunity – this was

PAC / 45 A Mirror to the Police

higher among the ASIs and those ranked below (93 percent) than among SIs and ranks below (85 percent). w With the current structure of work in the police department, more than half the number of police personnel (52 percent) reported not witnessing any changes in their department in the last three years. Among the rest who experienced changes, the positive ones have been mainly related to the introduction of new technologies including e-beat facility, computerization and so on (60 percent), while negative changes mainly related to the continuing work pressure. Work-related attitudes – Reflective of changes in time A few statements which reflect the universal beliefs of the common man about police in general were read out to the police personnel to understand their perspective. The statements and the proportion of police personnel agreeing to them are as follows: Table 3.1 – Proportion of police personnel agreeing to statements related to work culture

S. No. Statements percent agreeing 1. Honesty does not pay all the time 38 2. Behaving sternly / harshly is required to command respect 20 3. There is no harm in using foul language with the suspects 24 4. Use of physical force is the only way to extract information 15 5. Corruption is a part of the system 38 6. Things do not move without political favour 22 7. Be in the good books of the higher officers to move up in your career 77 8. Being in the police force is not a social services as perceived by people 13 9. People from the vulnerable sections of society are mainly responsible for crimes in the locality 34 10. Crime prevention requires convergence with other departments / organizations 77

46 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

11. Discipline means blind obedience to one’s superior officer 17 12. Credit for good work done is mostly taken away by the superior officer 55 13. Often senior officers curry favours with politicians/ influential persons and let down their subordinates 41

As can be observed from the responses, internal politics within the department seems to be quite in play affecting the way the police personnel view themselves and their colleagues in their department. Corruption and Grievance Redressal – bribery practices very much in place www External corruption § More than one-fifth of the interviewed police personnel (21 percent) agree that there are practices involving taking of money or personal favours from complainants or the accused or the public in the department. § The reasons cited for the same include personal greed (64 percent), to meet expenses of the police station (30 percent), and to influence decision on cases related to complaints (13 percent). § Almost 90 percent of the police personnel believe that corrupt practices can be reduced if there is good understanding between the senior and junior ranks of officers.

Fig 3.6: Proportion of staff confirming bribe-taking in the department

45

21 19 20 19 17 17 16

CM C S W E N NE T

PAC / 47 A Mirror to the Police www Internal corruption § When asked about their experiences of paying money or doing any personal favours to anyone in the department to get their work done, only 7 percent reported in the affirmative. § Reasons for bribery comprised mainly recruitment/transfer/posting (49 percent), followed by getting entitlements such as leave, allocation of work shift, and reimbursement of expenses (42 percent). § More than three-fourths of those who made the payment/favour were able to get their work done. § More than 80 percent of the police personnel (86 percent) believe that this corrupt practice can be reduced if senior officers in the department resolve to take it up seriously. www Problem incidence and grievance redressal § Only 17 percent of the police personnel interviewed reported that they faced problems within the department. This was more among the SIs and those ranked above (26 percent) than among ASIs and ranks below (14 percent). § Some of the important problems cited included: not allowed leave (7 percent), pressure from officers at various levels (6 percent), health- related problems (5 percent) and transfer-related issues (5 percent). § Interestingly, 28 percent did not approach anyone; others approached SIs (17 percent) and the SPs (16 percent). However, in most cases the interaction between the respondent and senior officers was reported to be polite (67 percent), while, in some cases, it was downright unhelpful (25 percent). § In most cases the problem remained non-resolved, as reported by 82 percent of the aggrieved police personnel.

Outcome and Satisfaction

The outcome of the work carried out by the police personnel is reflected in the status of the cases that have been registered in the police stations. w According to the information collected from the selected police stations, the current status of the cases indicates that more than one-fourth of the cases have been closed (27 percent). While 40 percent of the cases have been charge-sheeted, five percent have been identified as false cases. Nearly 20 percent of the cases were under investigation while seven percent were declared to be undetected.

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Fig 3.7: Proportion of police stations reporting closed cases

47 41

33 31 32 28 26 26

CM C S W E N NE T w Among the ranges, undetected cases were seen mostly in the Commissionerates (12 percent) and in the Central range (15 percent), while, in the Southern and Eastern ranges, more than 50 percent of the cases had been charge-sheeted. Nearly 10 percent of the cases were found to be false in the police stations in the Central range while closed cases were the least in the Eastern range (18 percent), thereby reflecting a wide variation in the working patterns of different police stations across the state. w However, a few factors that unifies the police personnel in the department are: § Most of the police personnel (85 percent) have reported that they would not like to outsource any of their duties to outside agencies. § A high rate of satisfaction with their job and with their department has been expressed by the police personnel interviewed (89 percent), with 99 percent of them reporting complete satisfaction. § The same proportion of police personnel have placed complete trust in their department/system (97 percent). w Some of the reasons for satisfaction included aspects such as getting respect from society (68 percent), the job helps them to reach out to people (67 percent) and it instills a sense of discipline (49 percent). w Among the few personnel who reported dissatisfaction, the main reasons were less time with family (73 percent), round-the-clock duty (73 percent) and being underpaid (60 percent). w Some of the most pleasant experiences in the police department as

PAC / 49 A Mirror to the Police

reported those interviewed include appreciation from the public (42 percent), appreciation from higher officers (26 percent) and successful investigations (20 percent).

Lodging of Complaints – Procedural gaps?

The previous chapter assessed the experiences of the complainants as they went about the process of lodging complaints in the police stations. A police version of the same process is given below. The process More than 80 w A written complaint is taken in most cases (79 percent), percent of the police when a person comes to register a case; 30 percent of personnel reported the police personnel also mentioned carrying out a that they update preliminary enquiry. complainants on the w More than 90 percent of the police personnel reported progress of the that the complaint is ‘always’ read out to the investigation complainant. w An acknowledgment in the form of an FIR copy is given to the complainant as reported by 94 percent police personnel and is given immediately after recording the complaint (91 percent). w Reasons cited by those who reported that they do not file FIRs immediately included checking up on any suspicion of complainants misdirecting the official or suppressing facts, followed by exploring the possibility of compromise. w When asked about the powers provided by the Indian Penal Code, Sections 193 to 195, to the police to tackle such cases where complainants have misled them, most police personnel (83 percent) admitted to not availing the same, mainly due to lack of awareness (50 percent). w More than 80 percent of the police personnel (89 percent) reported that they update complainants on the progress of the investigation; however, this is mostly done when the complainants approache or make enquiries (49 percent); some said they do it on a monthly basis (15 percent). w While more than one-fourth of the police personnel said that they have not faced any problems when a complainant comes to their station to lodge a complaint, more than 10 percent have complained about facing pressure from people with political influence, complainants not being able to relate the complaint properly (5 percent) and complainants coming to the station after drinking binges creating problems (4 percent).

50 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

The gaps w It was interesting to note that the same questions have elicited varied responses from the two sides (police personnel and complainants) as is shown below: Table 3.2: The complaint lodging process as reported by police personnel and complainants

Police Complainants Reading out the complaint – 93% Reading out of complaint – 75% FIR copy / acknowledgment FIR copy / acknowledgment given to the complainant – 99%, received – 66%, immediately – 91% on demand – 34% Updating the complainant on Awareness regarding current investigation status – 89% status of complaint – 55% Updation on current status – through visits to the police station – 64% Status of closed (including Status of solved and closed those identified as false cases) cases – 35 percent, status of – 32% unsolved but closed cases – 13%

Since both sets of respondents are from the same selected police stations, it would be useful to explore this gap further.

Western Range – the best performer! It was in the Western Range that complainants expressed the highest satisfaction with their interaction with the police. This when juxtaposed with service quality related factors, indicates why this is so – a substantial proportion of the complainants reported ease in approaching police stations, received the FIR/acknowledgment copy and, only a quarter had to demand the same. A huge majority expressed happiness with the follow up process undertaken by the police personnel. Further analysis showed that among the police personnel, factors such as getting weekly offs (51%), being able to use the internet and other technologies during the course of their work (85%), participation in training programmes (58%) and, awareness that there are funds for their utilization (66%), created a more positive environment for the police personnel to perform their duties more efficiently. The highest ratio of solved cases (41%) was in this Range. It is also seen that the police personnel here are well aware of the internal problems within the department and are open enough to admit that there are certain drawbacks - interference or involvement of people of influence in their routine work (46%), existence of a ‘very rigid’ hierarchy (71%) and existence of corrupt practices within the department (45%). An outstanding case to be studied in detail and emulated by other ranges!

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Conclusions and Policy Recommendations

One of the objectives of this study was to assist the police department to use the information and knowledge generated, so that actionable policies and remedies can be formulated. This chapter puts together the conclusions drawn from this study and their policy implications. The large majority of complainants are low-income, less-educated and disadvantaged citizens. It is truly the aam aadmi who seeks the intervention and assistance of the police. 1. Access to the Stations Our findings show that the presence of police personnel in their seats (95 percent) and being able to register the cases the same day (89 percent) seem satisfactory. Police were also able to give acknowledgments (as mentioned by 66 percent of the complainants). While these are positive features, the main problems faced by the complainants had to do with the efficiency and responsiveness displayed by the police when their complaints were being taken (an average of 2½ hours for lodging of complaints and four hours to get the FIR / Acknowledgement copy). Further probing of the cases (based on exit interviews) makes one suspect that one out of two complainants failed to get his/her case registered. 2. Fear of the Police There is evidence of a significant proportion of the public not feeling at ease in dealing with the police. This probably reflects psychological barriers which have been nurtured over the years through the conduct of the police or the lack of self-confidence of the citizens. This is well brought out by the fact that in the Eastern range which has the largest proportion of SC/ ST members among the complainants, the percentage of people not at ease is the highest (66 percent). It also, perhaps, has to do with the low percentage of literacy (24 percent illiterates). Whether this problem has

52 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

been reinforced by the police culture or largely because of the low social status of the complainants is an issue worth investigating. 3. Weak System of Follow-up The study highlights serious problems once the investigation process starts. A significant issue is the high percentage of complainants (45 percent) who are unable to get information on the status of their complaints. It seems that information is provided only after repeated visits (as mentioned by 64 percent of the complainants) A significant issue is but seldom at the initiative of the police personnel the high percentage of themselves. Here again, the reasons behind this complainants who are phenomenon needs further probing. It is possible that unable to get the police culture is not proactive towards information on the complainants. Or, it could be that overload of work status of their limits the ability of the staff to be more responsive. complaints 4. Existence of Corruption There is evidence of corruption that arise at the time of interaction of the complainant (nine percent) with the police. The interviews with the police (21 percent) also confirm the same conclusion. But the low percentages emerging from the study could be partly due to a misinterpretation on the part of complainants on the definition of a bribe. Many ordinary citizens are likely to consider paying for investigation expenses, not as a bribe but, as a legitimate expense by the police to which they should contribute. This issue again needs further probing. 5. Limited Awareness The study highlights a major problem of limited awareness of the citizens about the procedures at the police station regarding registration (42 percent), whom to approach (40 percent), getting an FIR copy (53 percent), etc. Here again, the low social and educational status of the complainant may partly explain this lack of awareness. But, as far as the performance of the police station is concerned, it is clear that no proactive steps have been taken to inform and educate the public about the steps involved in accessing a police station. Clearly this problem calls for sharing of information about the police procedures and other matters that the public need to know. 6. Timeliness of Case Closures Feedback from the complainants, as well as from the police, confirm that a third of the cases registered have been solved during the same year. It is difficult to judge whether this is an adequate or satisfactory outcome or not. But, it is clear from the foregoing conclusions that if the problem of

PAC / 53 A Mirror to the Police

responsiveness, information and empathy for the average citizen are dealt with, the outcome in terms of resolution of cases could be further improved. 7. Loyalty and Trust Among the police, there are both positive and negative features. An encouraging finding is the high degree of loyalty and trust of the police personnel in their department (97 percent). This is an asset on which the department can build, in order to achieve better performance and responsiveness of the public. That such a high level of loyalty and trust has been displayed or conveyed by the field police staff is commendable as their work-related problems as discussed below are not insignificant. 8. Rigid Hierarchy The downside of the police culture that has come out of the study pertains to the rigidity of the internal structure of the department (89 percent). Clearly a highly hierarchical structure and discipline are in place, and it does not permit any openness of ideas to float from the field to the top. In a sense the structure, which may have its strengths in dealing with emergency situations, may act as a barrier to innovations and receptivity to new ideas from within. Similarly, there is evidence that senior officers may not always be fair in their treatment of those below them. Two good examples are: in order to move up the job ladder junior staff curry favour with the seniors (a statement that 77 percent of the police personnel agreed to); seniors tend to take credit for the work done by their lower-level colleagues (a statement that 55 percent of the respondents agreed to). Such unfair treatment is exacerbated by the assessment of a good majority of the staff that they are heavily overloaded in terms of work (41 percent reporting 13 to 16 hours of work) and often not given the leave which is their right (64 percent reporting never getting a weekly off-day). While the department has done well in terms of providing necessary infrastructure at the police stations and other facilities needed by the staff, the management of human resources leaves much to be desired. The remedies for this very important set of problems may not necessarily lie in the formulation of new policies, but in a more careful implementation of existing norms. 9. Satisfaction Contrasts One of the interesting findings of the study is the contrast between the satisfaction levels indicated by the police personnel as opposed to the satisfaction levels of the complainants. While only 47 percent of the complainants indicated complete satisfaction in their interaction with the police, the satisfaction of the police personnel is much higher (89 percent). In fact, public satisfaction with the police will drop significantly if the 54 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

feedback of those who failed to get their cases registered is also taken into account. What is important to note here is that the assessment of the complainants reflects their experience with the services they obtain at the police station. Since the department is primarily concerned with this aspect, greater attention is to be given to find ways to improve citizen satisfaction level and not take comfort in the reported high levels of satisfaction mentioned by the staff. 10.Scope for Improvement All of the above conclusions signal considerable scope the department has to improve service quality, responsiveness, productivity, information- sharing, and fairer treatment of the poorer segments of society. Some of the remedies are likely to be within the purview of the department to initiate simply by implementing existing There needs to be a policies better. Other aspects of reforms may require better work-life additional resources. The challenge for the department balance which can is to separate the different categories of steps to be taken be improved by in light of the findings presented above. filling in the 11.Work-life Balance sanctioned posts As regards the police personnel and their performance, and better human the key issues involved are clear. There needs to be a better resource work-life balance which, to some extent, can be improved management by filling in the sanctioned posts, and through better human resource management. Part of their dissatisfaction could be dealt with through better implementation of the norms regarding leave compensation. In a psychological sense, their performance could also be improved by creating more space for participation as, for example, by being more receptive to their ideas and insights for improving the functioning of the department. 12.Wide Regional Variations Almost all the issues discussed above vary widely across the ranges and commissionerates of the department. A large number of charts presented in the study show that some ranges have done better than others. This is important to know because the policies affecting the ranges and commissionerates are uniform and resource allocations are also, perhaps, based on similar norms. Needless to say, ranges vary in their socio- economic conditions and levels of development. What these wide variations point to is the need to pay greater attention to the quality of management, supervision, and the types of training being provided in the ranges and the commissionerates.

PAC / 55 A Mirror to the Police

A case in point is the Western range that stands out as a better performer in terms of complainant-satisfaction with services provided at the police stations. This range reports maximum complete satisfaction by complainants (70 percent as against the average of 47 percent) which, when juxtaposed with service quality-related factors, indicates why this is so – 79 percent complainants reporting ease in approaching police stations, 80 percent reporting receiving the FIR/acknowledgment copy, only 25 percent having to demand the same, and 90 percent expressing their happiness with the follow-up process undertaken by the police personnel. From the information gathered from the police personnel, it is clear that factors such as getting weekly off-days (51 percent), being able to use the internet and other technologies during the course of their work (85 percent), participation in training programmes (58 percent), awareness that there are funds for their utilization (66 percent), and solved cases (41 percent) have created a more positive environment for the police personnel to perform their duties more efficiently. It is also seen that the police personnel here are well aware of the internal problems within the department and are open enough to admit that there are certain drawbacks - interference or involvement of people of influence in their routine work (46 percent), existence of a ‘very rigid’ hierarchy (71 percent), and existence of corrupt practices within the department (45 percent). 13.Influence of Service Quality on Satisfaction An important finding of this study is that the satisfaction scores of complainants are significantly influenced by whether they received prompt and effective service at the police stations. Satisfaction levels are higher when their complaints are promptly attended to at the stations, they receive a copy of the FIR/acknowledgments upon submission of complaints, when no problems are faced in their interaction with the police, when no bribe has to be paid, and their cases are solved. Personal attributes such as the complainant’s education level, gender or income did not determine the satisfaction scores of the complainants. Though satisfaction measures have an element of subjectivity, evidence from this study shows that quality of service is their key determinant.

56 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police 5

Follow-up Action

The purpose of the PAC study was to assist the Karnataka State Police Department (KSPD) initiate reforms and improvements based on both internal discussions and consensus building.

Public Dissemination of the Findings

1. A press conference was held on 2nd September 2010, where the PAC study findings were presented before the media followed by a statement by the DGP on the steps he has taken or will take deal with the issues highlighted by the study. 2. The DG&IGP also shared the findings of the report with all the Commissioners of Police, Range IGPs and District level Superintendents of Police.

Actions Taken by the DG&IGP

1. A toll free number 1800 425 0100 that was installed in the office of the DG&IGP in November 2008, for easy access for the public to voice their problems, has been given greater publicity and the functioning of this number has also been streamlined. This number has been advertised in the media. 2. Information boards are being put up in all police stations in order to assist the public with information that will help them to register cases or other complaints. 3. Desks have been installed in District Headquartesr to receive complaints from public who are unable to lodge a complaint at the police station in their jurisdiction. 4. The police department has established procedures for the speedy return of properties to the complainants. In 2007, nearly 41 per cent of the property

PAC / 57 A Mirror to the Police

recovered was returned; this increased to 50 per cent in 2008 and 63 per cent in 2009. 5. To deal with the problem of repeated visits by the public to the police stations for follow up of their cases, a new system of holding meetings with the complainants every third Sunday of the month has been organized in all police stations. At this meeting, complainants are informed about the progress of their cases. 6. Every police station is now reimbursed the expenditure incurred on investigation of cases. The Investigation Fund amount of Rs. 20 crore is included in the annual budget of the KSPD. It is therefore unnecessary for the public to pay any amounts to the police for the investigation of their cases. This has again been widely advertised for the benefit of the public. In order to improve awareness, SHOs of all police stations in Karnataka were provided with details of contingency amounts sanctioned and the funds available for case investigation. This circular is put up on the police station notice board. 7. The DGP has instructed all officers that weekly off should be given to Police Constables, Head Constables and Assistant Sub Inspectors. 8. A circular was issued from the KSPD to all Compols, Dispols and Range IGPs requesting SHOs of all police stations to hold monthly interactive sessions with the staff at the police station level, which were to be minuted and monthly reports of the same to be submitted by the SDPOs/ACPs to SPs/DCPs; this was in response to the finding of the study that police personnel at the police stations did not feel that they get an opportunity to get their views/ideas heard by their supervisors. 9. The DG&IGP has also instructed senior officials of the department to form sub-committees to consider the findings to come up with actionable measures to bring about positive changes in the work culture of the department and would continue on a self-sustaining basis. 10.Advertisements (please see Annexure) in the electronic and print media in Kannada, English and Urdu languages have been issued to educate and thereby empower the public on the following five initiatives – i. That there are office, residence and mobile telephone numbers of the SHO, Circle Inspector, Superintendent of Police and the Tollfree number of the office of the DG&IGP displayed on a board outside each police station in Karnataka requesting people to contact any one of them in case their complaints are not received or delayed. ii. That a Desk is available in the office of the SP incharge of the District / DCP in the Police Commissionerates where complaints can be presented

58 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

in case refused in the police stations. iii. That property return programmes are held every quarter in all districts and police commissionerates to return the property to the complainants. iv. That sufficient fund is available with the police to defray the cost of investigation. v. That every third Sunday, complainants can visit the police station between 11.00am and 1.00pm to know the progress of their cases. They can visit the police station for this purpose any other time also. The above-mentioned remedial measures and actions were initiated within a month after the submission of the report.

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60 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

Annexures

PAC / 61 A Mirror to the Police

ANNEXURE: 1 - SAMPLING DESIGN

Sl. Commissionerates Total Allocated No. & Ranges police stations sampling 1 Bangalore commissionerate 104 13 2 Hubli-Dharwad commissionerate 15 2 3 Mysore commissionerate 17 3 4 Central Range 111 14 5 Southern Range 105 13 6 Western Range 99 13 7 Eastern Range 104 13 8 Northern Range 118 15 9 North Eastern Range 113 14 786 100 BANGALORE COMMISSIONERATE (13)

Sl. Name of No. of Law Allocated No. Division & Order sampling police stations 1 DCP SOUTH DIVISION 18 2 2 DCP EAST DIVISION 16 2 3 DCP NORTH DIVISION 18 2 4 DCP WEST DIVISION 16 2 5 DCP CENTRAL DIVISION 13 2 6 DCP SOUTHEAST DIVISION 13 2 7 DCP NORTHEAST DIVISION 10 1 HUBLI-DHARWAD COMMISSIONERATE (2) 8 Hubli-Dharwad 15 2 MYSORE COMMISSIONERATE (3) 9 Mysore City 17 3

62 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police

CENTRAL RANGE(14)

Sl. Name of the selected No. of Law Allocated No. district from & Order sampling each range police stations 1 BANGALORE RURAL 21 4 2 TUMUKUR 36 7 3 RAMNAGAR 18 3 SOUTHERN RANGE (13) 4 MANDYA DIST. 27 5 5 HASSAN DISTRICT 27 5 6 CHAMARAJANAGAR DISTRICT 14 3 WESTERN RANGE (13) 7 D.K.DISTRICT 26 6 8 CHIKMAGALUR 27 7 EASTERN RANGE (13) 9 CHITRADURGA DISTRICT 18 5 10 BELLARY DISTRICT 33 8 NORTHERN RANGE (15) 11 DISTRICT 42 8 12 BIJAPUR DISTRICT 21 4 13 HAVERI DISTRICT 17 3 NORTH EASTERN RANGE(14) 14 GULBARGA DISTRICT 50 9 15 BIDAR DISTRICT 25 5

PAC / 63 A Mirror to the Police T 99.0 96.0 NE 100 71.4 84.0 N 100 86.7 85.7 86.0 80.0 E 100 100 100 100 100 W 92.3 91.7 S C ANNEXURE 2 – OBSERVATION TABLES 100 100 100 100 100100100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 MC 77.8 92.9 84.6 76.9 16.783.3 35.7 64.322.2 30.8 69.2 92.9 58.3 41.783.3 84.6 92.3 15.4 85.7 53.3 76.944.4 46.7 69.2 92.3 71.450.0 57.1 28.6 60.0 61.5 48.5 42.9 76.9 51.5 92.3 78.6 23.1 84.6 68.0 15.4 84.6 15.4 60.0 40.0 78.6 21.4 68.0 31.0 Language on the station name Important contact numbers for complainants facing a problem List displaying the important Observation(% saying ‘Yes’) Is there a station name board? board -Kannada board -Both Board clearly visible to passers Enough space to keep vehicles Availability of telephone Is it working? contact numbers lodging a complaint Lighting-Yes, sufficient Lighting - Yes, but insufficient Language on the station name

64 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T 97.1 96.2 NE 80.0 94.4 50.0 95.6 N 100 90.0 90.0 92.5 53.8 33.330.0 72.7 30.0 65.2 78.6 72.7 87.9 E 100 100100 100100 100 100 100100 100 83.3 61.5 66.7 64.3 79.0 92.3 80.0 64.3 83.0 84.6 93.3 78.6 91.0 W 100 100 84.6 84.6 86.7 85.7 88.0 100 100 100 87.5 90.9 90.9 84.6 CS 92.3 81.8 90.9 100100 100100 100 100 100 100 100 100100 100 100100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100100 100 100 100 100100 100 100 100 100 MC 72.283.3 71.473.3 92.9 38.9 61.5 76.985.7 71.494.4 84.6 92.3 70.061.1 84.6 78.6 53.8 81.8 81.894.4 57.1 69.288.2 80.0 84.6 66.7 85.7 53.8 69.2 91.7 57.1 61.5 66.7 92.3 69.0 83.3 46.283.3 71.4 92.3 92.9 26.7 78.6 66.0 84.6 71.4 84.6 84.6 54.0 76.9 66.7 71.4 80.0 50.0 28.6 53.8 76.9 38.5 40.0 28.6 45.0 Available Used Available Used Available Used Available Used Available Used Available Used Available Used Used Available Used Available Available Drinking water Observation(% saying ‘Yes’) Computer Internet Lock-ups for men women town rounds Staff room Toilet Facilities staff facilities E-Beat system Lock-ups for Motorcycle for Separate toilet facilities for female

PAC / 65 A Mirror to the Police T 98.0 99.0 NE 57.1 90.0 78.6 95.0 85.7 97.0 92.9 98.0 N 100 66.7 35.7 81.0 86.7 78.6 93.0 86.7 64.3 89.0 93.3 78.6 95.0 E 100 100 100 100 W 100 100100 100 100 100 100100 100 100100 100100 100 100 100 100 100 92.3 92.3 92.3 S 100 92.376.9 92.3 92.3 61.5 92.392.3 60.0 50.0 62.0 92.3 92.3 92.3 92.3 84.6 84.6 C 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100100 100 100 100100 100 100 100 100 MC 94.483.3 92.9 11.1 94.4 94.4 Important Registers maintained Station House Diary Beat Book Monthly Abstract Village roster Crime Register U.D.R Crime Key C-Miss Register Non Cognizable Register Process register Telephone message Register

66 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T 92.0 98.0 NE 100 N 33.3 36.4 67.5 86.7 92.9 94.0 E 100 92.3 86.7 85.7 88.0 W 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 92.3 84.6 93.3 S 92.3 C 100 100 100 MC 72.277.8 92.972.2 85.776.9 84.6 92.977.8 92.3 84.6 92.3 92.3 92.9 92.3 84.6 83.3 92.361.1 76.9 84.6 94.4 86.7 50.0 76.9 85.794.4 93.377.8 71.4 60.0 84.6 92.950.0 85.7 83.0 78.6 92.3 92.3 71.4 86.0 80.0 92.3 69.2 86.7 76.9 78.6 84.6 82.0 66.7 50.0 66.0 35.7 53.8 36.4 15.4 33.3 23.1 16.7 30.7 Displays The Mission Statement Notice Board Duty Board same day Crime Board against women and children Visiting Officers Board Maps of Jurisdiction Area Maps of Beat Area Crime Chart List of absconding warrantee Allocation of duties for the Crime Board depicting segregated data on crimes

PAC / 67 A Mirror to the Police OD 47.1 67.9 49.5 29.7 19.9 49.4 44.1 6.3 6.3 4.6 9.5 6.1 6.0 6.7 On Leave 46.6 25.8 45.9 60.8 74.0 44.6 53.149.2 10.0 36.9 PRESENT ON THE DAY OF VISIT Present 9 2 1 6 4 4 6 11 % of shortage 90.7 97.8 98.6 88.8 94.1 96.0 96.4 94.1 against sanctioned Working % 8.6 6.1 8.2 8.0 6.6 9.2 5.2 7.7 Female 91.4 93.9 91.8 92.0 93.4 90.8 94.8 92.3 Male WORKING POSTS 5.9 6.7 6.6 7.8 6.6 8.6 5.3 6.7 Female 94.1 93.3 93.4 92.2 93.4 91.4 94.7 93.3 Male SANCTIONED POSTS Commissionerates Central Range Southern Range Western Range Eastern Range Northern Range North Eastern Range Total

68 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T

4.9 5.2 4.0 NE NE

N 2.8 3.0 N

E 10.3 10.0 33.1 45.0 11.8 E 18.7 20.2 22.0 20.1

W 6.8 4.9 10.9 25.1 17.6 17.7 W 9.4

S 3.8 9.4 13.6 S 7.2 4.6 3.9 3.9 2.9 6.9

C 6.9 5.3 50.722.3 36.8 30.2 45.8 10.7 34.2 27.3 C

8.3 2.6 5.1 5.4 2.2 MC 25.8 17.7 17.110.1 11.5 6.5 8.6 6.3 0.6 7.3 2.5 3.6 5.0 MC 25.829.911.8 27.3 10.926.0 14.6 13.7 53.3 38.7 45.4 19.5 51.4 40.0 44.7 18.7 46.8 28.6 40.7 24.8 27.3 Top Crime Heads registered between June 2008 and May 2009 2009 between April 2008 to March Status of registered complaints Missing Motor Vehicle Thefts Ordinary thefts House break thefts Cheating Accident Hurt Assault Harassment/ crime against women Attempt to murder/murder Jagala Death case Under Investigation Charge sheeted Undetected Identified as false case Closed

PAC / 69 A Mirror to the Police 9 T 37 6 NE 4 6 5 N E 24 18 46 19 16 9 2 20 14 12 15 16 12 11 11 11 W 2 S .5 8 5 C .4 1449 22 48 52 63 45 61 45 Cultivation Cultivation Cultivation Cultivation Cultivation Cultivation 4 8 17 6 377624 38 86 14 38 79 21 3858 7525 25 3810 40 83 40 17 41 17 49 8180 32 1913 39 17 41 90 79 23 21 38 15 27 80 94 16 20 27 21 80 50 13 82 51 23 87 33 17 87 86 MC Petty Business ANNEXURE 3 – TABLES ON COMPLAINANT RESPONSES COMPLAINANTS Avg. Age (years) Sex (%) Male Female Illiterates (%) Cultivators (%) Main Occupation SOCIAL GROUP - CASTE AND RELIGION (%) Forward caste Backward caste SC ST Minority Hindu Muslims

70 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T NE N E W 11.2 40.8 12.7 11.8 14.7 10.4 25.8 14.3 21.4 15.5 S 4.2 C 7.1 7.7 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 MC 15.813.1 16.1 71.155.3 76.848.6 41.1 88.196.1 38.6 28.8 78.594.7 96.8 27.7 53.5 33.599.4 94.6 97.3 49.6 42.7 73.081.7 98.9 94.2 96.5 41.2 41.0 66.889.7 81.8 98.8 95.0 86.2 46.3 26.1 69.9 90.3 85.4 99.2 54.2 91.7 28.6 41.8 86.2 95.7 97.2 93.7 98.6 40.5 95.7 65.6 98.6 93.9 94.8 69.2 87.6 99.2 89.2 92.3 87.4 98.9 97.1 83.6 88.9 COMPLAINANTS (% reporting…) Scared to visit the police station Hesitated to visit the police station Free to visit police station registering a case at the police station visited the police station attending immediately complaint visit to the police station the same day complaint (in hours) Aware of the process Knew the person to be contacted Staff available at their seat when Someone at the police station That person listening to the Lodging of complaint at the first Lodging of complaint on Average time taken to lodge

PAC / 71 A Mirror to the Police T NE 20.0 12.5 N 8.3 E 22.9 18.2 44.6 55.9 24.7 W S C 7.2 8.1 8.7 4 4 5 3 3 3 3 4 5.6 4.6 2.7 7.8 MC 49.2 54.329.4 42.716.1 49.3 34.6 31.4 63.1 38.128.1 27.7 47.3 61.358.3 36.8 20.0 56.5 85.028.1 34.6 37.3 41.5 59.039.0 52.6 16.512.4 56.9 30.8 52.0 75.0 54.6 14.2 57.3 40.0 51.4 53.3 21.6 73.2 45.4 28.3 33.9 26.8 27.1 64.3 22.1 44.1 48.2 62.5 31.6 30.1 36.6 54.5 37.1 36.1 35.0 COMPLAINANTS (% reporting…) of the police station recording it Lack of awareness about F.I.R copy lodging complaint F.I.R copy (in Hours) Process of lodging complaint - Difficult of the complaint as informed by the police Case solved and closed Case closed but not solved The writer / staff not reading out the complaint after writing/ Not receiving F.I.R. copy after Average time taken to issue Aware of the current status Aware of status complaint Writing of complaint by the staff

72 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T 8.2 NE 12.9 N 8.7 E 11.9 W S C 8.2 5.4 7.7 7.7 4.7 7.1 8.7 8.9 5.0 5.0 4.2 MC 41.317.2 47.394.2 47.778.9 89.3 40.185.3 82.578.1 93.5 42.6 83.9 83.166.1 81.4 96.2 28.0 88.1 94.269.2 71.4 85.4 83.1 18.5 92.7 85.8 74.3 68.8 95.0 91.9 37.9 90.8 90.0 70.0 84.6 91.5 95.4 86.3 88.9 90.0 85.8 78.7 92.8 85.0 85.9 88.8 63.0 75.0 87.3 71.7 57.1 82.4 56.4 70.5 73.9 Satisfied with availability of staff COMPLAINANTS (% reporting…) registration of complaint person during visits to the station done in their seat Satisfied with time taken to attend of staff (Courtesy) Satisfied with helpfulness of staff solving problem into consideration Paid extra as a bribe to get work Satisfied with overall behavior Satisfied with interest in Satisfied with overall interaction with station taking every thing Faced problem during Sub –Inspector is the most helpful

PAC / 73 A Mirror to the Police T NE N E W S C ANNEXURE: 4 – POLICE PERSONNEL TABLE MC 75.624.4 85.751.1 14.3 84.632.2 32.9 15.4 84.664.4 34.3 35.4 15.450.0 87.7 80.0 24.6 41.5 12.380.0 44.3 81.3 81.5 30.8 47.7 18.753.3 74.3 40.0 87.1 12.3 27.7 46.7 12.9 38.6 81.5 40.073.3 83.4 17.2 22.7 37.1 16.6 27.7 49.2 27.7 88.6 42.7 38.6 42.2 21.5 56.9 46.7 89.2 35.7 30.2 40.0 58.7 35.7 76.9 48.7 36.0 42.9 41.2 86.2 52.9 64.0 73.3 39.4 90.0 82.0 POLICE PERSONNEL (% reporting…) Sex - Male Female in this station - Less than one year in this station - 2 to 3 years and escort duty Duty on normal day - 13-16 hrs regularly - Never weekly off -days: No Are you able to discharge your duties with the current station strength -Yes How long have you been posted How long have you been posted Duties assigned -Bandobast Do you get weekly off-days Have you received monetary compensation for not getting

74 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T NE 20.0 14.0 N 7.7 E W S C MC 55.672.2 51.4 82.9 53.840.0 65.4 41.586.1 40.0 90.0 46.216.7 96.4 40.0 38.5 34.752.8 10.7 88.5 46.2 41.4 41.455.6 71.4 11.5 86.7 30.8 62.5 46.6 27.8 64.3 73.1 16.7 90.0 34.7 25.7 57.7 66.7 15.0 96.2 28.6 23.1 60.0 55.0 90.0 37.2 30.8 50.0 61.5 90.3 27.7 38.5 55.0 42.7 45.0 62.4 30.0 53.8 29.8 How has this influenced POLICE PERSONNEL (% reporting…) training programme - No to attend training programme Have you experienced / come across people of influence -Yes Local politicians Higher police officers your work - Hindrance by their interference -Yes unbiased manner Major reason for not attending training programme - Interested, 48.0 but did not get an opportunity People of influence - People of influence - Higher officers being affected Yes, always print and electronic media will report in Have you undergone any

PAC / 75 A Mirror to the Police T 97.5 NE 90.0 91.1 N 100 E 100 100 100 W S 83.3 98.0 90.0 93.3 91.7 93.0 C 100 93.3 92.3 92.3 100 MC 48.953.3 45.7 11.177.8 41.5 14.388.2 85.7 33.8 27.393.0 29.2 73.8 96.491.5 97.9 60.0 87.7 26.737.8 83.3 98.1 60.0 42.9 53.816.7 47.7 88.7 82.8 81.3 43.8 52.0 18.6 48.4 93.8 95.353.3 71.4 16.9 70.0 88.4 92.7 92.3 77.0 44.6 51.0 98.3 90.9 20.0 35.8 93.7 65.5 16.0 55.4 38.5 18.6 48.5 66.7 21.2 46.2 64.2 Acknowledge in the form Update when complainant POLICE PERSONNEL (% reporting…) your police station -No Contingency- allocated Investigation fund - allocated funds that will help perform better read out to the complainant of FIR copy after recording the complaint approaches / enquires or personal favors Practices of taking money or personal favors are for personal greed Need infrastructural facilities / Yes, recorded complaint always Issue FIR copy immediately Agreeing that there are practices involving taking of money Aware of funds received by

76 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T NE N 63.6 40.0 72.7 E 28.6 33.3 80.0 42.4 83.3 45.5 90.0 72.7 W 100 100 S 100 100 100 18.2 20.7 30.8 16.7 15.4 16.0 C 7.7 - 8.9 4.3 4.6 1.5 4.6 4.0 5.7 5.0 MC 40.0 25.091.1 33.3 91.456.1 86.2 78.150.0 92.3 80.4 83.3 90.8 13.8 85.3 47.5 85.7 33.9 89.0 29.3 49.0 58.5 59.475.0 64.3 50.0 82.8 77.8 62.7 82.3 62.1 67.0 66.774.4 87.164.4 82.9 81.5 77.1 83.1 86.2 86.2 83.1 60.0 63.1 66.2 72.0 63.1 52.0 50.0 49.3 58.8 71.7 50.0 71.3 64.5 Sense of discipline It helps to reach out people Round the clock duty Increase in staff strength Fixation of duration duty hours Increase in salary and amenities POLICE PERSONNEL (% reporting…) by higher officers Paid money in the department to get work done of work shift, reimbursement) Satisfied with job in the police department No time to attend family Paid money in the department to get entitlement (leave, allocation Reasons for satisfaction with Job: Reasons for Dissatisfaction with job: Reforms suggested for improvement Practices of taking money or personal favors are forced

PAC / 77 A Mirror to the Police T NE N E W 80.0 92.3 92.0 81.4 91.0 S 100 C MC 41.130.0 52.967.8 35.7 45.342.2 68.6 21.9 23.180.0 62.9 73.8 24.6 50.858.9 80.0 80.0 72.3 28.6 37.891.1 48.6 90.8 63.1 52.3 23.0 44.9 81.4 63.1 83.1 81.343.3 77.3 18.8 42.2 89.2 50.8 86.294.4 64.0 52.9 55.7 26.3 56.9 55.4 70.7 95.7 77.1 50.8 67.0 45.6 69.2 52.0 68.6 65.9 70.8 62.9 77.3 54.3 79.6 60.0 61.5 68.6 54.8 72.0 21.5 77.0 51.4 72.3 56.8 58.7 41.4 51.8 POLICE PERSONNEL (% reporting…) Appreciation from the public Appreciation from higher officers in the public space Housing facility - Provided Health facility - Provided in times of my family need / crises of discipline Extent of rigidity the current structure of hierarchy in the police department – Very Rigid ideas to act upon Not experienced any changes in the department in past 3 years Most pleasant experience - Yes, there is a scope to improve the image of police department Department does not support Following departmental rules and regulations is the meaning No opportunity in the department to come up with new or innovative Most pleasant experience -

78 / PAC A Bottom-Up Assessment of the Karnataka Police T NE N E 12.3 30.7 24.3 14.8 W 15.4 33.8 36.0 31.4 23.8 S 9.2 12.3 18.5 36.9 22.7 20.0 19.6 C 8.6 5.7 4.6 9.2 MC 33.318.9 34.320.0 32.314.4 20.0 29.228.9 52.318.9 40.0 41.366.7 20.0 44.6 45.718.9 91.4 16.9 47.7 38.2 47.1 90.8 13.8 36.970.0 43.1 69.2 36.9 34.7 82.9 29.2 73.8 33.3 34.3 93.8 55.4 76.0 17.1 37.6 70.8 20.0 77.1 22.4 75.4 28.6 77.4 69.3 33.6 81.4 77.2 Use of physical force is the only There is no harm in using foul POLICE PERSONNEL (% agreeing…) Honesty does not pay all the time required to command respect language with the suspect way to extract information Corruption is a part of the system political favor officers to move up in your career for the crimes in locality Crime prevention requires convergence with other departments / organizations Behaving sternly/harshly is Things do not move without Be in the good books of higher People from the vulnerable sections of society are mainly responsible

PAC / 79 A Mirror to the Police T NE N E W S C MC 11.142.2 11.440.0 60.0 12.3 44.3 60.0 12.3 58.5 60.0 24.6 43.1 56.9 18.7 43.1 57.3 30.0 32.0 52.9 17.0 31.4 55.0 41.4 POLICE PERSONNEL (% agreeing…) to one’s superior officer taken away by the superior officer and let down their subordinates. Credit for good work done is mostly Often senior officers curry favors with politicians/influential persons Discipline means blind obedience

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