Soldiers and Policemen - Stocks of the Same Society

The recent Delhi gang rape has brought to question the appalling behavior of policemen in our country. While confronting this reality most senior police officers ascribe it to poor working conditions and degraded values of the society itself from where they pick their stocks. As a service officer with over 25 years of experience, I am compelled to contrast soldiers and policemen and conclude that the arguments put forth by the police are completely unfounded.

The anxiety level of a soldier is incomparable to any other uniformed profession. The working condition of soldiers is torturous to say the least. Apart from the grave risks that they face from the enemy, the treacherous climatic conditions of mountains, jungles and the seas take a big toll. Soldiers live separated from their families for most part of their service career with a visit back home only once in 6 months. With their meager salaries they struggle to maintain their family and educate their children. Most of the time the atrocities bestowed on their families back home goes unreported. Incidents like rape, murder, forceful takeover of land by greedy family members and neighbors are so common and rampant. Yet soldiers evoke reverence and respect in the society at large and they are not from Mars and are part of the same society from where the police draw their stocks. Obviously then, there are other systemic causes for such contrast in their behaviors.  

Most soldiers and policemen are recruited after 12th standard and there are no great differences in the recruitment procedure too. In both cases, it is based on a written test followed by physical test and could be that the physical standards desired in the military may be a notch higher than the police. There are no other tests in the military to assess the attitude and behavioral orientations of a potential recruit to say that the military draws a better lot. It is therefore, not the degraded values of the society which is to be blamed as most police officers tend to say, instead there are several subtle differences that misses the eye, which must be carefully considered.

Firstly, both organizations have a public image and it is an empirically proved fact that among other things, individuals seek congruence between their personal and the prospective organization’s values. Thus, one could say that both organizations attract individuals based on their public image. The most commonly known value of the Police force is ‘Power’ whereas that of the military is ‘Service’. Thus, the lot opting for the military and police are entirely different in terms of their value orientations.  Secondly, it is common knowledge that selection into police requires financial investments whereas in the military it is not so. Thus, someone who aspires for ‘power’, can afford to invest and is confident of reaping back the investment will never opt for military service. On the other hand a person with some sense of national service and who can’t afford to pay a bribe will find the military a better option. Therefore, the police argument that the society is degraded does not hold much water. For that matter, every society comprises of good and bad and in the absence of any scientific method of weeding out undesirable elements at the recruitment stage the image or core values of the organization assumes greater importance. Thirdly, not all soldiers are saints but as stated earlier, in the absence of any scientific method of weeding out undesirable element at the entry stage, it is expected that some unscrupulous elements will creep in. These elements at some stage of their career do raise their fangs but the implementation of discipline through immediate trial and conviction sets an example for the rest, which is grossly missing in the police force. Policemen as they stand today, exercise ‘power’ without accountability and we know ‘power corrupts’, more so when the initiation itself is through corrupt means.     

To change the way police in our country behaves, we need no rocket science or help from any foreign country. All we need is to learn a few lessons from our own military. Firstly, the police needs to revisit their recruitment process to eliminate corruption because corrupt breed corruption. It may also be wise to have a thorough psychometric analysis of each candidate before selecting him/her. Secondly, there is an urgent need to have a strong code of conduct for policemen and any violation must be dealt with ruthlessly and to do this they need clean leadership, particularly at the middle level. In the military there is no lateral entry for Junior Commissioned Officers. They all rise from the ranks which ensure that only the best become JCOs and thus the quality of middle level leadership is ensured whereas, in the police a candidate can directly join as Sub-inspector. Thus, there is no check on the quality of mid level leadership. Once these systemic changes are implemented, the image of the police will gradually change and it will start attracting better lot from the society.  

The police force need to look inwards rather than blaming all and sundry for their own follies.