Why should the police be ‘Soldiers of a lesser God’?

In school, we were told to utter a prayer of thanks in the morning and praise the Almighty for keeping us safe through the night. Decades later, I couldn’t help understanding that a greater role in me, my family and neighbours waking up safe and sound in the morning was played by the police, especially those on the night beat. Probably, a part of the credit goes to thieves, burglars and scum of the earth missing out on targeting me or my dear ones.

But still, the larger credit goes to the deterrence posed by beat constables. Strangely, at the recently concluded Aero India 2011, I couldn’t help observing how policemen — be it law and order or traffic cops — were given a go-by by the general public in preference to those considered “real men” in uniforms — the Air Force, Army and Navy personnel. I wondered why the cops were discriminated against.

The armed forces and the police play different roles, but have the same objective. One protects us from people with bad designs from outside, while the other does the same with anti-socials from within our borders. Yet, there is discrimination against the policemen. They are like “Soldiers of a lesser God” despite being involved in the same cause of protecting us, or making our lives and daily routine more comfortable to run.

But if you really want to see how stupid our attitude towards the police is, then try determining which one plays a more important role in keeping you healthy — the muscles or white blood corpuscles that fight invading germs within your body.

If even the most muscular of men are prone to disease due to decay from within, then what use is it to have bulky muscles and a great figure to show?

The same applies to the functions of the armed forces and the police vis-à-vis the nation’s security. Unfortunately, as they say, the more exposed you are to critical screening, the more you are able to find faults with a particular system. And the police are taking the brunt of it due to the proximity to the public.

The armed forces function far away from public view. Only their acts of valour and sacrifice reach the people through media to shape their prevailing impressions. So, the negatives are hidden while the positives are feasted upon.

That gives way to romanticism surrounding the defence forces.

But it is different towards the police. The public impressions are heavily weighed in favour of the corrupt acts of the black sheep in the police force, while the heroes and the duty-conscious ones find no place whatsoever in the public mind.

However, not being willing to acknowledge the good in the police does not mean it does not exist; nor does it mean that the entire force has to be branded as corrupt. Yet, they have already been branded as such by the public.

They forget the Thimmaiahs and Ombales of the force, but remember Khetrapals and Batras, who died protecting out borders. Probably, that’s the reason why a military medal assumes more value than a police one. But still, all four of them made the extreme sacrifice fighting for their respective forces… and the country.

That discriminating approach is due to the defect in the public mind… our mind.