Private security key to public safety

A few men have given cops a bad name
Pradeep Sharma was dismissed for alleged links with the underworld. The Maharashtra administrative tribunal has asked the state government to reinstate him with immediate effect and with back wages, but the state government has appealed in the high court for his dismissal. Sharma was sacked in August 2008 for alleged links with the underworld, including don Dawood Ibrahim.

Sharma also believed to have amassed upto Rs3,000 crore in illegal wealth. He joined the Mumbai police in 1983 as a sub inspector and gradually rose to have a notorious reputation of being Mumbai police’s Dirty Harry. He has 112 “encounter killings” to his credit. The policeman’s 25-year-long career has always been under cloud.

He was alleged to have amassed assets disproportionate to his declared income. As the chief of the Kandivli unit of crime branch, he was alleged to have used his position to issue threats to resolve land disputes between builders. His name cropped up in the investigations into Khwaja Yunus’s custodial death in 2003. Twenty-seven-year-old engineer Khwaja Yunus mysteriously disappeared from police custody in 2002. Yunus was arrested and booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2002 in connection with the Ghatkopar BEST bus blast case.

Aslam Momin
In July 2005, then Mumbai police commissioner AN Roy dismissed Momin, using Article 311 of the Constitution, after evidence of telephonic conversations between Momin and Iqbal Kaskar were unearthed by the Crime Branch.

Private guards will reduce burden on cops
step is to strengthen security of each locality with their private security guards. This is possible in case small theft or robbery. There many such cases registered in the police stations, which is an extra burden for them. It’s taxing for them to tackle the bigger threat which is need for the security of the city. So if the private security guards will be trained in a similar way like the policemen, they can help in preventing such small crimes. Also, many times they are easily approachable than the police as officials take time in reaching the spot.    
—Manish Chimnan

Mumbai police capable of handling situations
Sivanandhan’s proposal seems absolutely right. We have the tendency to wait for an incident to happen then take any action, so it is high time we take some firm step. Mumbai police is capable of handling sensitive situations as compared to other cities, but there are some weaknesses like they have a lethargic attitude and aren’t quite fit. Moreover police should not be controlled by the government however there should be an independent authority. Private security guards will reduce the pressure and they can be utilised at the time of emergency like 26/11.                          
—Darshana Gupta

Can be deployed at malls and mutiplexes
The measures suggested by the police commissioner seem appropriate. The police personnel are overworked and burdened. This in turn affects their health as well as their work. The liberties that these guards will have to be worked out, as it will differ with that of the standard police personnel. It would be advisable to deploy them at malls and multiplexes, because it will not be fair to depute them for other challenging tasks or para-military operations. It’s good to see that the police are taking all measures possible to ensure the safety of the citizens.   
—Abhijeet Shinde

The police needs support from citizens
The police commissioner’s statement implies that the guards will be taking law and order in their hands. According to me the police needs public co-operation to maintain law and order, since they can’t be present everywhere to solve crime and track miscreants. This will be a good initiative as it is not possible to deploy police everywhere, but at least we can have these guards as a first line of defence. But they should not be given power to take law into their hands and it should be carefully planned keeping all loopholes into consideration.                         
—Mandar Lad

Expert view
It will reduce the pressure on cops
What D Sivanandhan has proposed seems to be the privatisation of the police. If they want to improve the poor police-population ratio in the city, first of all the police constables should be detached from doing errands and house keeping jobs for senior IPS, IAS or ministers. It is an absolute waste of their training. If they are freed from these services there will be sufficient number of police, who can serve the city. Moreover it will also reduce the extra pressure on the police personnel.  If there is need for more staff then government should opt for recruitment. But giving training to private guards means giving them a licence to take steps to exploit or kill anyone. This is very dangerous because there are hardly any responsible security agencies in Mumbai. Even this time there is need to reform the police by giving better respect and quality of life to them which will prevent them from indulging in corruption.   
—Surendra Srivastava, president, Lok Satta Party

Better training & amenities required
After the Independence, the department which has been completely neglected is police - at all levels. There are number of things which required to be taken into consideration for strengthening the police. It is not only the number of personnel but also the quality of the police force that should be taken into consideration. When I was the DGP the number of police personnel was around 50,000 and now it is more than a lakh. The larger number doesn't imply that we are totally secure and safe. The quality of police training and how well the police are equipped with the latest fire arms and amenities is what matters. Moreover they need to be motivated well and be able enough for any combat situation. But in reality even the basic training of the police is very poor. Police personnel are not even physically fit and they lack discipline.
 —Arvind Inamdar, former director general of police