GOA POLICE: DISTANT FROM THE PEOPLE?
By Frederick Noronha

We deal with them on a daily basis, on the roads, at the fairs,
in market places, or in the courts. We depend on them, distrust
them, or perhaps wish they would be more efficient. Their once
well-known khaki was recently replaced by a uniform of blue-and-
white. But most of us in Goa know little about the state police.

One former senior Goa police official has recently penned a book
giving an inside picture of the Goa police. This work throws up
many issues. For instance: Is the crime rate really going down,
as police chiefs repeatedly claim? What blocks the police from
doing their job? Is the police force doing anything to check
corruption, which was largely an absent phenomenon in the
'sixties but has touched legendary proportions now?

One-time senior Goa police official, Dr N. Dilip Kumar (45) did
his Nuclear Physics before shifting to the field of History, and
that too the history of the Goa Police. His book 'Goa Police:
History And Evolution' looks at some of these aspects, and throws
light on some crucial aspects related to this state.

Currently he is a CBI superintendent of police at Chennai, Tamil
Nadu. Dilip Kumar's book gives an overview of the transformation
of the Goa police -- particularly after the end of Portuguese
colonialism. He gives a sympathetic account of the problems being
faced by the police here; but he does not spare words when it
comes to pointing to the failings of the police force.

Dilip Kumar frankly criticises the current state of the police in
Goa. He says that things have "not changed much" between now and
the colonial police of the late 1950s, the conditions of which
have been articulately narrated by freedom-fighter Mohan Ranade.

But even after the end of colonial rule, new training methods
mooted by the Gore Committee have not changed things. Police don't
seem to appreciate human rights issues.

Dilip Kumar charges that "though not sanctioned by law", the
police in the recent past have been given the Establishment
Protection Role. This make public accountability non-existent.
"The problem becomes more acute when the state is small," he
says, citing a quid pro quo developing due to the police-
politician nexus.

Some issues have been well documented in the past. "'The Report
to the Goan People on the State of Goa's Police 1975-1982' by Dr
Claude Alvares and Linken Fernandes indicts the Goa Police for
blatant violations of human rights," he says without mincing words.

Dilip Kumar also points out that this report gave a detailed
account of the miserable conditions in the lock-up as well as the
inhuman treatment meted out to the inmates by the police.
Published in the early 'eighties, this report is unfortunately
hard to find, even in libraries.

"Modernisation of the police in Goa has not in any way reduced
the distance between the police and the people," he says. Dilip
Kumar concedes that even today the police are "basically
identified as an anti-people organisation committed to the use of
force and secret methods".

Dilip Kumar argues that the "prime factor" that needs to be
corrected for better policing is the police-politician link. "It
will reduce the incentive for politically-motivated measures like
harassment, foisting of unwarranted criminal cases and promote
integrity among the officers," he argues.

Responding to the charge of corruption among the police, the
former Goa SP argues that "this has been an allegation repeated
through the ages".

He points to the cases of centuries old village-police, kotwals,
or the darogas who were all found to be corrupt. "Modern police
is no exception. The effectiveness of the checks and balances
introduced to contain this problem will be judged only by the
future," says he.

"Once the freedom fighters and other nationalist-minded people
take a back seat, it is the power-crazy politicians who have come
to the fore and taken charge of the administration," he comments.

But the police, like any other government servants, have their
problems too.

Out of 3541 Goa police employees in 1995, some 1169 have got
government accommodation, as per the figures that went into this
book. Upto the rank of PIs, the accommodation is incidentally
rent-free.

Goa's Montepio issue -- an institution set up by the colonial
government, and taken over by Goa's post-1961 administrators --
is also discussed in this book.

After Portuguese colonial rule ended in 1961, new factors led to
a need to hike the number of police in Goa, says Dilip Kumar.
These included an increase in population, influx of 'labourers'
from 'outside', rapid growth of tourism, the increased frequency
of VIPs and VVIPs, and industrial development in Goa. In this
state, the police budget also jumped from a meagre Rs 35 lakh in
1962-63 to Rs 16.10 crore in 1995-96.

Interestingly, Goa has been talking about modernisation of its
police -- including for equipment for a Forensic Science
Laboratory, and a Finger Print Bureau -- but nothing seems to
have happened on this front.  

Many of Goa's past IGPs have also been trying to bring out a
Police Act or Manual. But all efforts have been so far
unsuccessful. The Bombay's Police Manual is still being used here
as the guiding book.

This book gives an insight into how the police function in Goa.

Under the beat-system introduced in 1966, staff are earmarked for
each beat. Their duties include collection of criminal and other
relevant information, and keeping close contacts with various
informants in different strata of society.

Their task also includes developing a personal knowledge about
those living in the area, keeping watch on various criminal
activities and a surveillance on ex-convicts.

"According to many officers, the arrangement of beats mostly
remains on paper, as the policemen earmarked are frequently
drafted for other duties," says Dilip Kumar. Over the decades,
plans for village police have been abandoned in Goa.

Goa's crime trend has almost tripled in three decades.

Currently the Goa police has an anti-narcotics cell, a research
unit for studying crime, a Reader's Branch to help in planning, a
Foreigners' Branch, and even an Anti-Corruption Branch.

But are systems working? Dilip Kumar concedes that though various
Standing Orders were issued by various heads of the local police
to improve performance of different units, these "instructions
only remain in hibernation in the files until someone points them out".  

But to be fair, Goa's police have been drawing complaints for
quite some time now.

Dilip Kumar quotes official documents which indicate that ex-CM
Dayanand Bandodkar was "not happy" with the functioning of the
Special Branch. It was, he felt, not successful in keeping the
government "posted with political and other developments in the
state and that intelligence work, particularly of the activities
of the Catholic Missions (sic), was far from satisfactory". Goa's
old police were not even able to "salute properly", Bandodkar
had once charged.

After the government reorganised the Special Branch in the
'sixties, it had a political wing, labour wing, students and
youth wing, administrative wing and miscellaneous wing. CID
centres collected intelligence on aspects like political,
students and youth, labour, communal, social, criminal,
religious, commercial, educational, economical, and about
government officers.

In the 'sixties, the police machinery also appears to have been
concerned about the 'hippies wandering on the beaches of Goa. One
suggestion was that staff provided for VIP Security could be used
to collect intelligence on 'the movements and activities of
foreigners' when there were no VIPs visiting Goa.

Some interesting stories also emerge from this book.

Among the victims of the transition of power from Lisbon to New
Delhi were the police dogs. Dogs of the colonial police were
found to be "useless and hence were destroyed". In colonial
times, the dogs were used by the Portuguese police "for chasing
people rather than tracking down criminals," says Dilip Kumar.

In 1968, the Shanti Prasad Report felt corruption was "not
rampant" in Goa, and suggested that the crime branch teams could
look after anti-corruption work. It suggested in future a DySP
(CID) as Vigilance Officer for Goa, with necessary legal powers
under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Believe it or not: Goa's VIPs currently need some 95 police staff
- -- including 1 DySP, 1 PI, 4 PSIs, 17 head constables and 72 PCs
- -- to  act as their security staff.  

This staff is used at the Governor's Residence, the residence of
CM, deputy CM, Speaker, ministers, high court judges, and as
pilot and escort cover, apart from watch and ward duties at the
Secretariat. The "ever increasing" number of ministers in the
state cabinet has also compelled police to pull out men from
elsewhere and put them on this job, as the author notes pointedly.

If VVIPs from outside visit Goa, then normal police functioning
is further strained. Over 350 VVIPs, some of whom are also in the
Z and Z+ category visit Goa each year!

"Apart from manpower, even vehicles are being withdrawn from
various units with increasing frequency, as VVIP security gets
the highest priority in police working," says Dilip Kumar.

Goa Police's five horses, purchased from the Remount Training
School and Depot in Saharanpur (UP) in 1990 were found to be "not
suitable" for law and order and bandobust duties. This after
eight policemen had been trained for the job. This squad was
dismantled, and the horses handed over to the 'Amateur Riding
Club'. It was subsequently revived however.

Dilip Kumar concedes that the once-popular Goa Police Football
team has presently turned "lustreless".

This book tells a story about a much ignored subject. Even if it
is a narration of a one-time police officer from this state
itself, it does offer an insight into some issues concerning the
police. Being an insider, it seems, does sometimes help in
piecing together the story.
______________________________________________________
This book is available for sale at Varsha Book Stall, Near Azad
Maidan, Panjim.  (ENDS)