The cop and the bribe go one step up

 

Pre-Kandahar hijacking, airport security used to be manned by the local police. At Calcutta airport, there was enormous jockeying to be posted to the international frisking wing which used to be allocated on rotational basis. A Constable hauled up before me in the orderly room for some misdemeanour was barely able to speak, even in Bengali. I thought he had some speech impediment or problems with language skills. When his turn came, the same Constable was posted to the international frisking wing. I used to sometimes tag along in civvies, incognito, in the queue of passengers waiting to be frisked. I found that the posting had wrought a miracle in the above Constable. Not only did it cure him of his speech impediment, he was now fluent in English also. I saw and heard him engaged in a lucid conversation with a British passenger, “Sir, you are our English master. We are your Indian slaves. You may give me some pounds. Or dollars. Even some 555 cigarettes will do …”

At Calcutta airport, it was sometimes difficult to digest some of the capers the personnel could get up to. The airport duty is round-the-clock so the personnel are deployed in eight-hour shifts. A Dy SP supervises the duty of the personnel in each shift and is present at the airport during his shift to attend to any urgent problems. Once, a passenger complained to the shift Dy SP regarding extortion by a Constable and gave the complaint in writing. The Dy SP summoned the Constable and asked him for an explanation. The Constable swore up and down and sideways that he was innocent. When the Dy SP pointed to the written complaint, the Constable grabbed it and immediately proceeded to eat it up. By that time, the passenger and his flight had already left so all that was left of the evidence was a little bit of indigestion for the Constable. Which brings me to a little higher up.

How does an IPS officer make money, if he is so inclined? Obviously, he is above going from truck to truck or weekly market to weekly market or chewing up evidence against him. Well, he has serious discretionary powers over all those who do all those things. Let’s go back a little in history.

The colonial rule did suffer from fears of illegitimacy in the minds of the people for the early part. There was considerable effort at display of grandeur to counteract such perceptions in the populace. Thus, the British built few hospitals and schools but the police stations and buildings were elaborate, imposing bungalows in Victorian architecture, with high ceilings and broad verandas all around where most of the official work was carried out. The same principle applied to SP offices and residences, armed guards and escorts, addressing senior officers as “Huzur Bahadur” (the brave gentleman) or “Kaptaan Sahib'' (the lordly captain), practices which endure till date. And so do the buildings. Inspections by senior officers used to be accompanied by tiger hunts and lavish stay, feasts and entertainment arrangements, all paid for by the Police Stations.

Would a senior officer of the British India of the 19^th century landing up at a Police Station of today find things different? Not much. Tiger hunts have, of course, been banned. However, these have been replaced by new year parties, picnics and official “get togethers'' with family and friends, at “Dak Bungalows.” The entertainment of senior officers by the subordinate staff is even now an established practice in the police departments and beyond a token payment, all other expenses are passed down to the SHOs. That British India officer would miss the tiger hunt but otherwise feel right at home.

In Police, we have a system of a monthly meeting, called the Crime Conference. It’s usually about three hours of grilling the officers on crime and their countervailing efforts in their areas of responsibility – COMPSTAT in New York by Bratton was the nearest that US had. One of my predecessors in a post used to have two Crime Conferences – one for grilling the officers on the crimes and the second one held on his residential lawns by his wife to discuss why the last month’s brown envelope was smaller in size than the previous month’s … There are always people searching for ways to bribe without being obvious about it. Birthday gifts for the child come in real handy. This same predecessor’s son used to have at least half a dozen birthdays per year as a result…

In a district, while the final disciplining powers vest with the SP, the minor punishment powers are delegated to the SDPOs and the Additional SPs for officials in their jurisdictions. In one district, I found that the SP had taken away this delegation and used to deal with all infringements himself. Because of this, he had to hold Orderly Rooms on almost every working day. While the number of personnel accused of the misdemeanours was huge, I found that he had not awarded a single punishment to anyone in his entire tenure. The implications were staggering.

Police recruitment is the big money spinner. While in Calcutta Police as Dy. Commissioner (DC), I was sent to a district called Burdwan for recruiting 100 Constables. Trying to be extremely diligent. I closely supervised all phases of the recruitment – measurement of height, chest, chest expansion, weight, 800 metres run within 4 minutes and so many seconds, 15 feet long jump, 100 metres sprint within 15 seconds, interview and so on. Just to be safe, I made everyone run singly for 100 metres with a stop watch in my hand. The process was so rigorous that there were less than a hundred people qualifying the physical tests. As a result, interview was inconsequential, eliminating the discretion component. Despite all this, I learnt that there had been widespread corruption. How? Apparently, there were these touts who promised the job to most of the candidates and collected two lakh rupees from each. They pocketed the money from all those who were selected on merit and returned the money to all those who failed. At Rs. 2 lacs per head for 100 selected – a neat two crores, in one district alone. No one complained. The selected candidates were happy. The failed ones got their money back and had no grievance. The touts were laughing all the way to the bank. If a DC taps into this, he also chuckles. One DC of Calcutta Police sent to North Bengal for recruitment in several districts never returned – they’re still waiting for him, after decades. Meanwhile, the immediate target of that constable having paid Rs. 2 lacs would be to recoup the money as quickly as possible …

Posting of officers and men is the other big one. I have heard that in many states, many times, the SHO posts of police stations are auctioned to the highest bidder. By its very nature, the organisation is secretive and this creates great opportunities. Subversion of investigation of major cases on pecuniary and political considerations is one of these. Cuts from vendors supplying uniforms, office equipment, vehicles, arms, ammunition and gadgets work out to huge amounts because the numbers are very high. The Police strength of a medium-sized state is over a lakh. The strength of one paramilitary force is above 2.5 lakh. The maths of any percentage cuts can be overwhelming. The budget estimate for Police expenditure for a medium-sized state for 2022-23 is above Rs. 10,000 cr. Police modernisation for both the state and the central police forces have huge budgets and, of course, huge opportunities.

When I joined the service, I thought there was a small, miniscule proportion of IPS officers (the so-called “haves”) creating a bad name for the majority (the so-called “have-nots”). Do I still hold that opinion? Well, ahem, ahem …

 

You were supposed to lend these powerful shoulders to the weak against the mighty …

 … what have you done with the stars in your hands?!