Police culture and public image of police are inextricably linked. If policemen could be seen as gentlemen who are courteous and conscientious but who at the same time are capable of using skilful force when necessary that would be an ideal public image of the police. On ground, however, there is a regrettable chasm between the ideal and the reality.

Behaviour pattern: The mis-hebaviour of police with complainants with the ulterior motive of avoiding registration of cases, subjecting suspects to physical tortures to force them to confess their guilt, killing innocent persons in fake encounters thereby getting involved in an inordinate amount of lying about matters of life and death, instances of rape of women in or out of police custody, not responding promptly and adequately to calls of serious individual or public distress thereby causing loss of human life and property are some of the commonly cited behavioural aberrations of police culture.

Improper action and dereliction: False implication of innocent persons in criminal cases at the instance of influential persons, fabrication of evidence with a view to securing conviction, beating people on petty grounds, favouring persons for financial consideration and resorting to extortion or wrong doings at the instance of relatives, friends or people in authority, are gross dereliction of statutory duty. Newspaper report, amongst others are the unfortunate testimony to the fact that the police have indulged in dubious and deplorable activities, which are culpable. The mirror of public opinion speaks of a tarnished image. The misdeeds of the police of the sub-continent displays the ugly shape the police culture has willy-nilly acquired.

Delinquent police officers and the role expectation: Policemen indulge in doing things which they ought not to do or refrain from doing what they ought to do, to favour people in authority. They do so to obtain choice postings, to avoid being transferred, to mitigate disciplinary measures or to earn a promotion. There is thus in existence a basis for mutually advantageous barter. In this process of undesirable law-enforcement, the police image is tarnished. Paradoxically, such delinquent officers are in demand because they are "tough" compared to the adopters of straight legal methods who are considered "softies'. These "tough" officers are considered fit and efficient to handle explosive situations whatever the means may be. These officers will not put sustained efforts to achieve substantial results. The "softie" officer may be able to show substantial results in the long run but the people who matter are mostly interested in short-term spectacular results even though they may be harmful. Therefore, it appears that the de jure expectations (compatible with the rule of law) of the police are at variance with the defacto expectations (compatible with rule of order). There is, thus, a belief that the police's principal value lies in the efficient enforcement of the prohibitive norms of substantive criminal law.

Third degree methods of investigation: The third degree method in the investigation of criminal cases alienates the police from the public and people dread the police. The third degree methods in addition to being severely image tarnishing, is a punishable offence under section 330 and 331 of the Bangladesh Penal Code. To obtain a confession by tortuous method is more reprehensible than ordinary criminal acts. Thus when law of the land punishes the practice of third degree with a punishment of seven to 10 years imprisonment why do police officers take such a grave risk on their shoulders? Are we in the sub-continent then very appreciative of the third degree methods when our adversaries are at the receiving end? Conversely, do we cry hoarse when we are the victims? One considered view is that social control in the form of approval or disapproval of police action can motivate the police to become just, fair and law abiding. If the society firmly refuses to condone policemen's unfair and illegal methods, the transgressions of law by law enforcement officers would gradually decrease to a bearable level.

Remand to police custody: Many policemen fail to realise that a confession under pressure even if judicially recorded is often false, often unverifiable and is often retracted in court. A confession once retracted is of very little value to the prosecution without substantial corroboration from other independent sources. The above observation becomes relevant because many instances of torture for extorting a confession take place during police remand. The question here is, will it be desirable to do away with police remand without hampering investigation of cases or standing in the way of bringing the offenders to book? Will such a step mean denial of opportunity to complete the investigation? We may do well to seriously ponder over likely amendments to the criminal procedure code (sec 164 and 167) and Evidence Act (sec 27) without sacrificing investigative efficiency while retaining the utmost concern for individual liberty.

Performance indicators: The insistence on good results acts as direct motive amongst subordinate police officers to inflate their outturn for the annual inspection by padding, concoction and fabrication of evidence in specific cases with a view to showing a high percentage of convictions, as against honesty of purpose and devotion to duty. Another cause for padding is the distrust of police evidence by the law. Some police officers say they resort to improper methods because courts do not believe them. Another indirect cause is too high a standard of fool-proof evidence insisted upon the courts. This results in sarcastic remarks like 'judicial quest for perfect proof often accounts for police presentation of fool-proof concoction". The point to ponder is, can one realistically seek perfect proof in the matter-of-fact imperfect world where truth suffers some infirmity when projected through human process? One may wonder whether in the meticulous hypersensitivity to delete a rare innocent from being punished many guilty persons must be allowed to escape. This of course must not detract one from the belief in the dictum that the purpose of honest investigation is to ascertain the facts and actual circumstances by unbiased investigation. The investigating officer should proceed from evidence to accused and not the other way.

Since police have no power to adjudge guilt they should place evidence as it is before the court. Determined efforts must be visible at the highest political and administrative levels to weed out the black sheep who by resorting to illegal and immoral methods blacken the credibility of the investigating agency.

The police sub-culture should, with support from the community being available pursuant to positive pro-active actions, strive to acquire the following:-

a) To be apolitical and impartial in the application of law;

b) To issue lawful orders to subordinates;

c) To organise legal aid as part of collaborative arrangement to inform citizens about their rights and duties under the law,

In the process of acquiring the above, help and support are necessary to ensure that interference with the statutory duties of police is not encouraged and directions are not given for performance of duties in a manner inconsistent with specific statutory provisions, and statutory power of police is not taken away in derogation of law.

Muhammad Nurul Huda is a former Inspector General of Police and Secretary.