The Police Act of 1861 largely governs Indian police forces, aiming to make them a more efficient instrument for the prevention and detection of crime. The Police Act gives each State Government the power to establish its own police force. Section 3 of the Police Act authorises the State Government to exercise the superintendence  over the police force. The two police functions of the police are maintenance of law and order and investigation of offences.

The police are essentially the investigating agency in the Indian criminal justice system and work in cooperation with the prosecution to collect evidence against the accused for the purpose of the trial.

POLICE - PUBLIC RELATIONS:

i)     Since the Police administration is based on law made in 1861 and not undergone any significant change, therefore, the colonial attitudes of police personnel still remain. The erstwhile police force of the British Raj who were trained to administer terror over our people for the perpetuation of foreign domination seem to heavily inspire our current Police administration who feel it’s their duty to treat a layman or a common citizen unfairly.

ii)    We need to understand that the idea of having a welfare state envisaged by our constitutional experts stands completely null and void, in absence of a proper criminal justice system. And here, Police machinery plays one of the most important roles in order to set criminal law into motion by lodging FIR’s and conducting unbiased and speedy investigation.

        Moreover, in order to accomplish the solemn purpose of having a crime free society, more onerous duty is cast on the Police and learned magistrates. There is a well demarcated sphere of activity between the field of crime detection and crime punishment. Investigation of an offence is the field exclusively reserved for the executive through the police department, the superintendence over which vests in the State Government. The executive who is charged with a duty to keep vigilance over law and order situation is obliged to prevent crime and if an offence is alleged to have been committed it is its bounden duty to investigate into the offence and bring the offenders to book. Needless to state the ill consequences which can follow if the police refuses to investigate a cognizable offence (offences in which the police is duty bound to lodge an FIR, without acquiring prior permission of a magistrate in order to investigate the case, together with the power to arrest without warrant) such as theft, murder, dacoity, rape, hurt, assault, robbery, trespass, cheating etc). As per the scheme and policy of the criminal procedure code no investigation in an offence can be commenced without registration of FIR’s.

iii)   Apart from the above, there have also been several studies and commissions set up to study and reform public-police relations and it was found that the public have greater dissatisfaction and disenchantment with the working of the police. Apathy of the police,inefficiency and incapacity of the police has given a poor image to it as people are in fear of even approaching it.

iv)   Recent years have seen an upsurge in terrorism and violence in different parts of the country and the police is expected to take care of law and order to curb the problem. But their failure to do so has led to worsening of the situation and given an all the more bad reputation to the police in the eyes of the common man.

v)    People are unaware of their rights and duties and so there leaves ample scope for the police or for that matter any organisation to take the law in their hands and exploit the common man.

REFORMS IN POLICE

The police personnel have a vital role in a parliamentary democracy. The society perceives them as custodians of law and order and providing safety and security to all. This essentially involves continuous police-public interface. The ever changing societal situation in terms of demography, increasing rate and complexity of crime particularly of an organized nature and also accompanied by violence, agitations, violent demonstrations, variety of political activities, left wing terrorism, insurgency, militancy, enforcement of economic and social legislations, etc. have further added new dimensions to the responsibilities of police personnel. Of late, there has been growing realization that police personnel have been functioning with a variety of constraints and handicaps, reflecting in their performance, thus becoming a major concern for both central and state governments.

In addition, there is a feeling that the police performance has been falling short of public expectations, which is affecting the overall image of the police in the country. With a view to making the police personnel more effective and efficient especially with reference to their, professionalism and public interface several initiatives have been launched from time to time.
 Some of the steps suggested by the National Police Commission in this direction are:

•     To bring about a change of attitude of police personnel so that they become people friendly.

•     To bring about more transparency and openness in police working.

•     To improve public image and public participation in police working.

•     To make the police more efficient and effective.

In order to achieve the above mention direction, the Ministry of Home Affairs with the support of UNDP has taken up an experimental project covering nine police stations in Rajasthan, Tamilnadu and Assam. One of the major aims of this project is to revise the curricula for training of police personnel at State Police Training
Institutions.
Police sensitisation training has also been initiated to rid the police of their colonial attitudes and high handed behaviour.

Over working the staff, lack of manpower, improper or no proper infrastructure to carry out their duties,no reward system, no proper growth system,major political and bureaucratic interference and stranglehold,etc.

The recommendations of the National Police Commission to set up State security boards in order to make the police force more accountable and responsible but unfortunately they have been constituted in only a few states and that too they are not up to the mark.

The Supreme Court in 2006 gave directives which were to be followed till the states come up with their police acts.

First, was to set up a State Security Commission which would insulate the police form unwarranted political interference. Political control is necessary but it needs to be conditioned in such a manner that political masters cannot take undue advantage. The primary responsibility of this commission is to lay down policy guidelines for service oriented policing, evaluate the functioning of the police and making binding recommendations to the government to that effect.

Second, the directives provide for a minimum fixed tenure of two years for the Chief of Police and four other police officers on operational duties in the field. The court expressed its shock over the frequent transfer of Superintendents of Police for whimsical reasons and observed that this trend leads to demoralization of the police force.

Third, the directives call for the separation of investigation from law and order which was also recommended by the Law Commission of India in its 154th report. This would ensure faster, accurate and fairer processes so that rule of law is maintained. Presently, law and order is prioritized over investigation work which leads to loss of material evidence crucial for the case under consideration.

Fourth, the Court's directive mandate the creation of a Police Establishment Board which would be a departmental body to oversee the transfer and posting of the officials above the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Fifth and the most important, the judgment directs to set up Police Complaints Authority in states to inquire into allegations of complaint of public against the men in uniform. This is supposed to be an independent body comprised of civil society members to ensure that justice is done without prejudice to any party. However states are trying to dilute the neutrality of the complaint authority by increasing the number of policemen on the Complaint Authority in the guise of independent members. This would annul the efficacy of having a complaint authority.

However, the states have been reluctant to implement the directives of the Supreme Court. Most of the states have or are trying to pass the new Police Acts but have diluted the directives leaving lacunae in place for police to act discretionarily/arbitrarily and facilitating entrenchment by the political executive. This is a significant blow to all civil society members who turn to state and the police to protect their human rights. The entire campaign towards reform has been compromised by those who want to protect their narrow and partisan interests.

The Supreme Court has set up a monitoring committee to review the implementation of its directives. 
The eighth report of the NPC recommended that protection available to the police officers from prosecution under section 132 and 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which mandate prior sanction of the government in order to prosecute any public servant including police official for any act done in discharge of his official duty be withdrawn or that a proviso be added to the section to initiate automatic judicial enquiry in every refusal to prosecute. This recommendation must be implemented. Making the police more accountable would deter police officials from harassing citizens. Structural and institutional changes can only bring in marginal improvements, what is important is attitudinal change on both the police as well as people's side to effectively cooperate with each other for smooth administration.