Covid-19- Police the real saviours of people
Daniel Bell, one of the leading American intellectuals of the postwar era, once commented that the Police service extends beyond the mere routine investigation and disposition of complaints, but has its main objective for the welfare of the individual and society. The words of Bell were practically proved by the police personnel, world over, in the fight against Covid-19. Just like the medical professionals, everywhere the police personnel were the frontline soldiers in the fight against Covid. The extent of their deep involvement can be well understood from the fact that over 1,400 uniformed officers and civilian employees of Newyork Police Department have tested positive for COVID-19, whereas 6,100 uniformed officers or about 17% of the 36000 Newyork Police force were declared sick. The situation was not much different in other countries, as well.
The role played by police in the Covid-19 fight in India was epoch-making. The effective enforcement of strategies like 'total lock down' or containment or ' social distancing, in the fight against Covid, was a teedious task in view of the hetrogenous-democratic character of our society with cultural -linguistic- pluralism and diversity in which people have different set of beliefs, customs, values and traditions. Though the overwhelming majority of the people,- conscious of the real threat of the pandemic and its social spread- suo-motto cooperated with such strategy, there were sections of people,who had violated the lockdown provisions thereby making the task of police more difficult , Even the police personnel on Covid duty had to bear the brunt of sections of people. A police officers 's hand was chopped off and six other officers were severely injured when they were attacked while enforcing lockdown measures in northern Punjab. There were instances of stone-pelting against the duty personnel from certain parts of Uttar Pradesh. Despite such incidents and provocations, the police persoonel showed praiseworthy restraint and performed challenging duties with commitment, dedication and self sacrifice.
But more significant were the humane, philanthropic and welfare oriented activities of the personnel in different states. In Kerala, when thousands of stranded migrant workers from the northern states -, bereft of work or livilihood- became depressed and desolate and restive, the timely intervention of the police defused further tension or crisis.The aggrieved workers were assured of their “food, water and shelter” until they were able to leave for their respective states. At the instance of the government and police, they were regularly provided with food, medicine and even recreational facilities. The Janamaitri police stations under Community policing schemes opened 'community kitchens' for the vulnerable sections in many parts of the state and regularly supplied food packets to the poor and needy in lockdown areas.
Such stories from other states were also quite inspirational. In the national capital of Delhi, dozens of police personnel even risking infection undertook such welfare activites in Covid affected hotspots. The street vendors were distributed with umberallas and drinking water bottles in Maharashtra, In many North Eastern states like Assam, Nagaland and Manipur, the police took initiative in the supply of essential items and vegetables to the people stranded in remote villages. The police personnel engaged in anti-Maoist operations in some parts of Orissa played the real role of saviours by feeding the destitutes, daily wagers and people with disability in the remote poverty stricken villages infested with Left Wing Extremism. The real stories of such philanthropic activities from different states- feeding of dsetitutes in streets; transportation of dialysis patients and pregnant women to hospitals or clinics, , free distribution of sanitisers, masks and soaps for the tribals and slum dwellers, organising online classes for the school students, consructing small house for the shelterless, liberal contributions to disaster management Funds from the pay packet by individual officers, distribution of kits containing essential items etc- are unending. The media and the organizations like Indian Medical Association (IMA) have acknowledged the commendable service rendered by police personnel during the Covid-19 fight in various states.
The police play a vital role in spreading the message of lockdown and precautions against the spread of Covind by using the platform of art, theatre and music. Over the past few weeks, police in several states have brought out audio-video skits and songs depicting catchy themes or slogans on the fight against Covind. Videos of officers lending their voice to old filmy songs of Bollywood, Mollywood or Tollywood in places such as Chennai,Mumbai, Pune, Kolkotta, Goa, Cochin,Trivandrum. Hyderabad etc have been widely shared by people on social media. The Neighbourhoods in Assam and Nagaland have found encouraging support from their local police who have been captured singing songs like ‘We Shall Overcome’!
No doubt, the police in India, sometimes described by many as the symbol of colonialism- brutal, inhuman and insensitve to the issues of common people- have now totally shed the past image through their wide range of service oriented activities during the ongoing fight against Covid-19. Now, it is the appropriate time to ponder over the contributing factors for this great transition of the police. The first and foremost reason is that the new generation of police personnel joining the force with better education, knowledge and skills are getting easily attuned to the hard realities knocking at our doors. They descend from their 'Khaki uniform' and feel the pulse of the real suffering lot. Secondly, the Training Vision or curriculam of the force emphasised the attitudinal change leading a shift from enforcement mode to service mode. The topics such as human rights, juvenile -women issues, Disaster management etc are incorporated in the Training module of the National Police Academy(NPA) and the state police training establishments. Moreover, bodies like the Bureau of Police Research &Development (BPR&D) under their Modernisation of Police Programme (MPP) and research-oriented activites have inculcated a new culture among the police personnel of all ranks. No doubt, our police professionals need to be imparted training to deal with major internal security challeneges such as terrorism or extremism or the orgnised crime. At the same time they should be made sensitive to other equally challenging tasks such as the fear of crime, rights and privileges of the marginalised and under privilesged sections, women, children and physically handicapped; distress situations like natural calamities- floods, famines -and epidemics like Covid or Dengue. Let us hope that the Covid-19 and the emerging social order and cultural milieu ,would accelerate the transisiton of the Indian police as the real sauviours of the masses.
,