Transforming India's security landscape
Every modern nation has a primary role to safeguard the life and liberty of its citizens. To ensure this objective, law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, have been established. However, depending on the complexity of the society—which includes population, composition, development status, technology adoption, and the performance of public and private institutions—there have been different patterns of partnership between citizens and the police in the realm of internal security in various countries. This partnership ranges from community policing to the private security industry.
On one hand, we see a very active role of community policing in countries like the USA, Singapore, and Japan. On the other hand, this role is less prominent in countries like Russia, Australia, and Germany. The population and resources available to the government for police administration are major factors. In the United Kingdom, Sir Robert Peel, a two-time Prime Minister known as the father of community policing, introduced the concept in the 19th century. Additionally, John Angel, a famous artist in England, coined the term "democratic policing" to describe community policing. The USA started community policing in the 1960s, which included neighbourhood watch programmes and meeting halls attached to every police station for regular consultations with the community. Police patrols were conducted on foot or bicycles to better mingle with the community and enlist their support.
In India, there has been a long history of people's participation in all spheres of public life, including policing. India is known as the mother of democracy, where community policing existed during the Ashokan period. During the medieval period, village chiefs known as Mukkadan or Sarpanch worked as police officers. Unfortunately, during the British period, community policing was lost as Lord Cornwallis introduced the Zamindari and Daroga (in charge of a police station) systems as part of the centralised control of the British exploitative regime. After Independence, there has been a general perception that the police administration, as an arm of the State, is not sufficient to control crime, maintain law and order, and administer justice satisfactorily.
Even today, the police-to-population ratio is 152 per one lakh population, against the desired norm of 222 (UN norms). Consequently, some initiatives have been taken in different parts of the country, such as:
Kerala Janamaithri Suraksha project (2008)
Village Resistance Groups to deal with dacoits in West Bengal
Gram Raksha Dal in Gujarat and Maharashtra, and the recent Citizen Setu project by the Gujarat police
Karnataka Village Defence Parties Act (1964)
Friends of Police (FOP) movement, Ramanath district, Tamil Nadu
Community Liaison groups, Uttarakhand
Gram/Nagar Raksha Samiti, Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh
Parivar Paramarsh Kendra, Raigarh, Madhya Pradesh
Police Mitra, Delhi Police
Over time, private security agencies have become significant in the realm of internal security in various countries. In the USA and many other advanced countries, they outnumber public police forces. Some countries, like Japan and the UK, have even granted them some police powers. In India, the private security industry is large and poised to play an important role alongside the police. They are now visible in residential colonies, bank ATMs, schools and colleges, hospitals, hotels, ports, airports, industrial establishments, malls, private businesses, and as private security officers (PSOs) in corporates.
A new dawn is rising on the horizon of the private security landscape. The 10 million strong workforce in the private security industry is poised to work as agents of the National Citizens Security Culture, a noble project being unfolded by CAPSI (Central Association of Private Security Industry) in the near future. The project, monitored by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), will be the largest-ever community policing initiative with sustainability in mind.
The National Citizens Security Culture project aims to:
Be a nationwide initiative with action from multiple stakeholders simultaneously under monitoring from the national capital, Delhi, in association with state chapters of CAPSI.
Encourage citizens from all walks of life to take ownership and responsibility.
Address national security comprehensively, covering all dimensions of societal and national security.
Become part of people's lives, changing attitudes and behaviours sustainably to foster a culture of security among citizens.
The project envisages the involvement of various stakeholders, including educational institutions, hospitals, hotel owners, mall owners, RWAs, village panchayats, civil administration (particularly police), and support from central ministries such as MHA, Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Ministry of Urban Development & Housing (MOUD), Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B). This support is essential for the successful launch of this project, which is fundamentally an altruistic measure by the private security industry association. This initiative should also qualify for CSR (corporate social responsibility) contributions from the corporate world.
The RRU (Rashtriya Raksha University) under the aegis of MHA will play a pivotal role in preparing training materials (audio-visual, text, etc.) in association with CAPSI. There will be training sessions (both offline and online) for security guards. Similarly, Nehru Yuva Kendras, Bharat Scouts and Guides, NCC, as well as other stakeholders like industrial and business establishments, will be engaged in this drive. The effective use of technology for the quickest dissemination of ideas and modalities of this project in a cost-effective manner will be crucial.
The initiative has already begun with a Round Table Conference held on 15th March 2024 at the Constitution Club, New Delhi, where top personnel from the defence forces, police forces, administration, academia, RRU, and think tanks participated, receiving wide media coverage. More interactions like this are planned across the country in the future.
This project aims to enhance the efficiency of the state apparatus (particularly the police) for the internal security of the country. It is expected that timely detection/reporting of crime or any untoward development in public life will lead to effective handling of law and order situations, crime prevention and investigation, disaster mitigation, and better community bonding. This will result in an overall safe and conducive ecosystem for various development initiatives to flourish. Additionally, it will improve the image of the police and help reduce the caseload in courts by preventing the institution of cases through strong social bonding inherent in this project. The spin-off effects could include awareness generation regarding hygiene, environmental preservation, and more in the future, using the same methodology. A secure Bharat would be the foundation of a developed Bharat.