Context: COVID-19 has turned the world upside down. There is hardly any aspect of our life that has been left untouched by the pandemic. In a society struck by a deadly virus, strict maintenance of public order is most essential. Only then can those affected by the disease be looked after and given the best medical care.
Key Points

• Law enforcement is as important as healthcare during the current crisis.
• The police have been endowed with the task of ensuring strict observance of guidelines, including physical distancing during the lockdown phase.
• COVID-19 will affect future law enforcement, which will require the management of new patterns of crime.

Overall drop in crime

• There has been a sharp reduction in traffic accidents and fatalities caused by such accidents. With anti-social elements confined to their homes, trespass and burglary also became more difficult crimes to commit.
• A survey across nations has indicated a measurable drop in overall crime. Major cities that generally report a high number of crimes found a drop in crime levels during the lockdown period.

New trends: The pandemic and the lockdown have ensured that many crimes have gone down. However, many other crimes have gone up or will assume new forms in the near future.

Domestic violence:

• There has been the worrying surge in domestic violence cases.
• There was an increase in sexual and gender-based violence in West Africa during the 2013-16 Ebola outbreak.

There are two major factors for the rise in domestic violence:-

• Most men are at home, either without work on in fear of losing their jobs. Data show that domestic violence increases when there is greater unemployment. The fear and insecurity of these men cause tension at home and unfortunately, women become the victims of this tension.
• The non-availability of liquor during the lockdown period, which caused frustration among those men who are habituated to drinking daily, has also been a causative factor.
• Epidemics leave women and girls more vulnerable to violence. As the administration is busy combating the pandemic, there is little help for domestic violence victims during times such as these.

Organized crime:

• The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, a network of prominent law-enforcement, governance and development practitioners based in Geneva, believes that the pandemic is both a threat to, and an opportunity for, organised crime, especially illicit drug trade.
• Travel restrictions across borders, especially in Africa, have made international trade in drugs extremely difficult.
• The Global Initiative believes that organised gangs will infiltrate health services and make profits through the sale of prescription drugs that are not otherwise easily available to the public.
• There is large-scale manufacture of ineffective masks and hand sanitizers.

Cybercrime

• A notable trend has been the rise in cybercrime.
• New portals have been launched to get people to donate money for the cause of combating COVID-19. These fraudulent sites have been able to cheat a large number of people.

Prison management

• A major challenge would be keeping prisons free of the virus.
• Many prisons have taken steps to insulate prisoners who reported positive for the virus from the rest of the inmates.
• A number of human rights activists have said that we need to consider the premature and temporary release of prisoners with some human rights activists even asking for complete evacuation of prisons, irrespective of whether a prisoner tests positive or not. But such a drastic move will make a mockery of the criminal justice system and expose society to many unrepentant violent offenders.
• Recently, the Supreme Court directed the States and Union Territories to constitute high-powered committees to consider releasing convicts who have been jailed up to seven years on parole, in order to decongest prisons.

Road Ahead

• As India enters the unlock mode, it is critical that law-enforcement officials think of ways of dealing with new challenges in maintaining law and order.
• The COVID experience provides an important lesson for the law enforcement agencies. An active police-public relation can be a critical building block for future.
• Apart from policymakers, the police leadership will have to introspect on its recent experience and draft a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure that will educate all police persons in the country. This move will eventually take care of future virus waves, if any.