A Quotient of Power

A quotient of power vests in the very word,"police." Hence, some officers with an intent to kill the concept of FOP recommended that the word," police" should not be used to designate such volunteers. But,what they fail to see with typical narrowmindedness and shortsightedness in such a pernicious recommendation is that with the empowerment that ordinary people get by such a designation, the nation itself is empowered to better combat the fissiparous forces of Naxalism, terrorism, militancy and the like. People once empowered as FOP are willing to break rank with their own community to assist the security forces.

One solution that addresses two problems

Everything has two dimensions- the quantitative dimension and the qualitative dimension. Talking about life, the quantitative dimension is how long one lives or the issue of longevity ; the qualitative dimension is how well one has lived- the issue of how happy he/she is and how happy he/ she has made others. The quantitative dimension is about how much income a man earns; the qualitative dimension is how well has he earned it and how well is he spending or saving it. FOP is a 142 solution in this sense that it resolves the quantitative problem of numbers, of inadequate police personnel for a given population. It also addresses the qualitative problem of motivation and morale of the police personnel, the commitment of the citizenry to good quality life and good quality policing, the ground support for the police, the empathy of the public with the difficulties of the police, the flow of information, intelligence and goodwill towards the police. The UHM had raised the issue of both the quantitative problem facing the police of inadequate police-public ratio given the spectrum of problems facing the country and the security forces. He had also raised the qualitative problem of insufficient motivation and training. FOP can make a contribution to resolving both questions cost effectively.

Resistance factor of FOP

Every forward movement produces a counter force of resistance. Every revolution, even the quiet ones , has to confront a Gang of Four. Someone wrote on TopCop recently, that there can possibly be no counter logic to the FOP idea, but he is underestimating the four factors of resistance. Some senior officers resist and even would like to fight the idea into non-existence due to an ego issue that the idea is someone else's and not theirs. Of course, they will give some other ostensible reasons for doing so. Some resist because they have joined the IPS or the police not to share power but to concentrate or accumulate power in their own hands. Some resist because they are not able to understand all the holistic dimensions of the concept and state how can we designate some citizens only as Friends of Police- does it mean all the others are enemies? A good number of subordinate police officers may resist because it exposes their acts of corruption and lends some transparency to police functioning on a day to day basis since civilians will get access to the police station. Some resist because they feel that it might add to their work burden without realizing that it will in the long run reduce their workload and act as a force multiplier. Some resist because they are not able to trust the public and feel that it will tend to be misused. Some resist it because they feel they would become unpopular as the idea or project was initiated under a particular political dispensation.Except the category of officers who resist it due to personal or ego reasons, all the others can be disabused of their notions through exposure and training. Sometimes all these factors and forces gang up together to become a veritable "Gang of Four."

FOP - training modules

The people gives the police the power and through FOP the police can give back the power to the people. The whole concept of Friend of Police must have evolved at my subconscious or what I call the sub-knowledge level from the French word for the policeman, " agent de police." So, instead of agent, at the conscious level, I chose Friend as it comes from the Latin word, " phile" which means love. If you love yourself you would be interested in your self preservation and promotion. The FOP concept is holistic in the sense it is based on the philosophy of true friendship or relationship. If you love your self, you need to observe and adopt certain principles of conduct- you must be first and foremost, a Friend of Principles. In the FOP multimedia training, we first focus on intrapersonal communication. What do you communicate to your deeper, intimate self? What is your self view as opposed to your world view? Unless intrapersonal communication is on sound grounds, interpersonal communication cannot be. Unless our view of our role as police men or officers is holistic and sound, our enactment of our public duties would be flawed. In pursuit of this goal, we stated that FOP training would take place on the paradigm of ASK or Attitude first and foremost, Skills (soft)next and Knowledge or facts or information last. The modules that were employed to address attitudes were Equilibrium Thinking, a pattern of thinking, being and doing that I had evolved and tested over a period of thirty years. In addition, we employed Neurolinguisic programming techniques for the first time to alter the mutual perceptions of police and FOPs. The feedback received about these attitude modules were excellent , both in the pilot project in 2002-2003 as well as in the state wide training of 50,000 police personnel of various ranks and 50,000 FOP volunteers in all districts and cities of the state of TN.

Harnessing idle human resources for policing

Every time, a state announces recruitment of say 3,000 to 10,000 constables, more than ten times that number apply. This enables us to gauge the extent of idle human resources eager and willing to be employed as policemen or policewomen. Large numbers of these candidates have volunteered as FOPs in Tamil Nadu and a good number have been subsequently employed either as constables, or sub-inspectors of police. It needs a fairly longer run-up than just six months or two years of training as the case may be for constables or Sub-inspectors but when they volunteer as FOPs they develop their aptitude and abilities to serve as full time police professionals. A few FOPs have even succeeded in joining as DySPs, as ASPs and one FOP student coordinator belonging to the Muslim community has joined the IFS and is currently serving in the UK. FOP multimedia training as well as the leadership training they get while volunteering service is a huge asset in preparing them for their future career. If some weightage is given at the time of selection for police personnel who had served as FOPs, it will further give a fillip to the movement.

Training of Private security industry and quid pro quo

The UHM bemoans the fact that Indian police is lacking in adequate manpower, equipment and training. The rato of policemen to public is often taken as a barometer of public security. He has proposed that the states double the police strength by a factor of two and double their present training capacity to work towards that goal over a period of the next decade possibly. Ideally, ( in lighter vein) it would be best to have a ratio of one is to one or one policeman for every citizen. But, as indicated in my blog elsewhere, studies have shown that a mere increase in police numbers do not tantamount to security or a decrease in crime or increase in publc confidence. The solution I propose is that the state should train new entrants to the private security industry that boasts of an existing strength of 55 lakhs and is estimated to grow at a rate of twenty per cent per annum. The training should be done on the lines of what Punjab police is currently doing and Rajasthan police too is attempting, where the state private security guards training institutions will give requisite training to eligible and willing candidates free of cost and certify them. As a quid pro quo, all of them will act as veritable Friends of Police. A MOU can be signed with the private security industry to make available such numbers of their manpower so trained for public duties in emergencies, for conduct of elections and so on. Police forces freed from the excessive burden of policing a mammoth population in this manner can then focus on fighting crime, Maoism and so on. Imagine also the flow of information from these 55 lakhs plus security guards.
prateep

How is it one solution for two problems

FOP is not a panacea for the ills of modern society or modern day policing but it offers one solution for two problems:
Take the issue of press hostility to the police- when the Press are wooed and won over as FOP, they begin to act as eyes and ears of the police. The trust deficit has to be overcome first

Take the issue of political interference- when police are in direct touch with people at large and through their ambassadors-the FOPs, when politicians in seats of power interfere unduly, they will feel the popular backlash in due course or through the ballot box.

Take the issue of public distrust of the police, so much so many citizens begin to believe that the police are in cahoots with the criminals and are not willing to share information about crimes with the former. When the bridges of mutual understanding are laid through FOP, the trust deficit again is overcome and people begin to trust their police.

The police are not everywhere, all the time but people are everywhere, all the time. Hence, any ground level intelligence can percolate from the local people. Take the case of landing of Pakistan based terrorists in a fishing hamlet off the coast of Mumbai, if there were FOPs in that locality, they would have noticed " the odd man out" of ten young men with backpacks, dressed neatly in jeans and T-shirts, landing in rubber dingies on the beach. Ground level intelligence can emanate only from citizens on the spot where the action begins. It will give a head start or a lead to the police.