Policing in democratic societies is governed by the rule of law and is indeed a difficult and challenging task. Given the fact that the Indian police force was trained in the past to serve the objectives of colonial rule and has not yet been granted the autonomy, resources and training for Professionalisation in a democratic milieu, its performance has not been entirely disappointing compared with many other departments of the government, the police by and large have served the public good even in adverse circumstances.
What is disconcerting today is the steady deterioration of standards of policing, the increasing lawlessness amongst the policemen themselves and the attitude of complacency and complicity amongst the leadership in police organisations.
Given the prevailing attitudes and approaches in the police force, there is not much hope that the people will get better services from the police in the immediate future. Since the purity and efficiency of the criminal justice system is largely dependent on the police who feed the system, the future seems bleak for criminal justice in general.
Enormous changes have occurred in this country since Independence, which cast a paramount obligation and duty on the police to function according to the requirements of the Constitution, law and democratic aspirations of the people. They require the police to be professional, service-oriented, and free from extraneous influences and above all be accountable to the rule of law.
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This has, however, not happened because those who control and run the system have abused it beyond repair and are responsible for the large number of ills that presently threaten to destroy the system.