DNA Micro edit | New lesson for cops: Emotional Intelligence

The Maharashtra Police recently undertook an initiative to impart Emotional Intelligence (EI) training to the members of its force. The programme was held to address the lack of emotional understanding among officers while handling crucial and delicate cases. As many as 52 policemen across the state were trained by a consulting firm in EI.

The course consisted of two major modules. First, 'Inner Self' in which they learnt to understand oneself, learn to control emotions, express emotions after understanding, manage emotions and conduct a self assessment of their emotions. The second, 'Outer Self' aimed at building relationships by bonding and collaborating with people from all walks of life. Learn to serve people by solving their problems and to empathise with people involved in crime. The initiative has definitely helped the police, as there were complaints from victims that policemen should engage people with empathy.

Several viral videos have been circulated on the Internet wherein policemen can be seen beating up offenders. Through this initiative, the police has taken a step to clean their 'insensitive' image which is widely known in public. However, there should be some quantifiable criteria set by the police to assess the performance of the officers who have been trained in EI. After all, some mechanism should be derived to ascertain how much the police have gained from the programme.

We will have to wait and watch whether this initiative continues to be a success or will end up being like other defunct initiatives of the police department.