Another one about the police...

I haven't written on here in a while, but it's not because I haven't been thinking about issues of social justice and human rights. School and work have kept me very busy. But that's not what I'm on here to write about. So, I present to you the issue of the police system in India.

The police system in India is, for lack of a better term (or a conscious choice not to use one), jacked up. The following is a brief rundown of what is happening.

In India (the report I read specifically focuses on police in the Uttar Pradesh Province, but the situation is much the same across India), the police are both the abused and the abusers. One officer said that he had gone 3 weeks without seeing his family and he had gotten 10 hours of sleep in the last 3 days. This was not by choice. The police officers are expected to be on call 24/7. No, you did not read that wrong. They are fully expected to be available to work long hours whenever their superiors feel it necessary.

Results are what matter to the superiors in the Indian police department. They put pressure on the police officers to get confessions and solve cases quickly, even though these things take time. In order to get confessions, the police officers will beat and/or toruture suspects; this is problematic for a number of reasons, but one especially problematic reason is that it can lead to false confessions. The police will also fabricate police records to make it look like a case has been solved. If a police officer doesn't solve a case quickly, he is viewed with suspicion and is in danger of losing his job.

According to the Human Rights Watch published in August 2009 (this is also where I've gotten all of my other information), "At the level of the civil police station, where junior and low-ranking police often reside and deal with suspects or victims, we found that civil police, particularly constables, live and work in abysmal conditions. They are often exhausted and demoralized, always on call, working long hours without shifts and necessary equipment, only to return to government-provided tents or filthy barracks for a few hours’ sleep. Junior-ranking officers often face unrealistic demands from their superiors to solve cases quickly. Even if officially encouraged, their use of professional crime investigation techniques is effectively discouraged by the dearth of time, training and equipment with which they operate. These officers also face frequent intervention in investigations by local political figures, who sometimes act to protect known criminals."

Yes, the police suffer abuses of human rights, but they are also abusers. So far, I've told you that the police fabricate records, beat and torture suspects, and let criminals slide depending on their political connections. These are just the actions that flow out of a messed up system.

Time and space do not permit me to give you every detail about this issue, but I wish I could. Not only would it enable you to be more objective, but you would be much better informed than this blog is able to make you. I wish I had the time and space to explain to you the severe lack in infrastructure and the fact that the police don't have the equipment or funding necessary to do their job well. I wish I could fully explain to you the hopelessness of Indian citizens. They don't even bother reporting crime anymore because they know the police department will deal with the issue in integrity, if they deal with it at all.

I can't give you all of the details, but you can read them for yourself. You can access the Human Rights Watch Report by clicking here. Please do read at least the summary of the situation.

And now, some questions for you. Based on what you've read in this post, what do you think should be done, and who do you think should do it? What do you think the role of the church is in this issue? What part about this situation surprised you? If you took the time to read the report, what in the report did you find interesting? And lastly, are you willing to pray for the police department in India?

Prayer points:
- Pray for the Holy Spirit to fall on India and begin to draw Indians to Jesus.
- Pray that the Lord would bring leaders into the Indian government who truly want to bring reform to the police system.
- Pray that the Lord would bring an end to the corruption in the police system.
- Pray that the Lord would send people who can assist the citizens of India in standing up to the corruption.
- Pray that the Lord would show you what your role is in bringing about change in this situation, even if it is through prayer.