Counter Terror Policing and Community Engagement in the Indian Metropolis
Once again, Indian cities are under terrorist radar and vulnerable to lethal attacks. In a matter of 24 hours, two big cities -Bangalore, in the south and Ahmadabad, in the western part of the country were targeted. This shows the entrenched capability of the terrorists to carry out attacks on urban centres and create mayhem by killing innocent people.
The government's counterterrorism strategy has proved ineffective so far. The target has been the country's largest cities, be it Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Jaipur, or recently, Bangalore or Ahmadabad. There is a missing link in dealing with terror strategy when protecting Indian cities.
The counter-terror strategy of the government has been more towards response and recovery than to prevention of the attack. Prevention of terrorism has been neglected in the counter-terror discourse, at least in India, which has been suffering for the last two decades. More importantly, the police force, which is the key to managing law and order in megacities, lacks a coordinated and sustained citizen engagement programme. It has not been possible for the police leaders of the country to engage people and let the citizens feel the police are part of the community.
The attacks on the western cities of New York, Washington, London and Madrid have shown how the cities are the main targets of the terrorists. In India, major metropolis like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad have been targeted in the past, and there is no stopping them unless there is serious intervention from the government in reshaping the counter-terror policy and involving the police and training them in counter-terror policing coupled with community engagement. Police became a symbol of ruthlessness over the years, not part of the community. This perception has to change through involvement and continuous engagement. To achieve that, there has to be encouragement and a framework from the Union government.
Cities are increasingly becoming multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic, with more migrants coming in, and hence, it is becoming a tough task for effective policing. The police are inadequately equipped and trained to understand the cause and effect of terrorism. The entire focus on the use of force in dealing with terrorism has created more fear and isolation in the community. The culture of alienation among the people to avoid law and order incidents has been growing in cities. This also talks about the need for structural change in the witness system and a legal framework for witness protection. So far, police-community engagement exists and is used for intelligence gathering instead of actual and real engagement.
A real engagement would enable the community and police to complement each other in times of crisis. It has been proved that the perpetrators of violence are a minuscule and isolated minority, but still, why the entire community does not come forward and inform the police of this? It is perhaps because of the fear and distrust. Police, in the last sixty years, have not been able to engage with the community; they have acted as agents of political power and have harassed the poor and powerless.
The inputs coming from experts and analysts that terrorists are functioning through local people have once again proved that isolated homegrown elements are there, and the police have failed in any way to check the menace. Though this homegrown terrorist phenomenon raises a few questions about the political system and the injustice done to them, still, this is no justification on the part of the police for being unprepared and unprofessional in dealing with grave crimes like terrorism. Police, being the eye and ear of the government, have been seen as feudal and unfriendly. They don’t help people; they create troubles which alienate the masses.
The narratives in the public memory of the colonial police and the post-colonial police are strikingly similar regarding repression, corruption and human rights violations. If so, will there be anyone to come to the police to inform them and give intelligence inputs? This is a grave situation that requires strong measures from the police leaders to inculcate fresh thinking in the constabulary and encourage citizen-friendly policing.
Given the fact that terrorists have successfully targeted the economic hubs of the country, the police task is to understand the design and ensure that the community develops ‘zero tolerance’ for such miscreants. The objective of the police-community engagement programme is not only for the information and intelligence inputs but to prevent the isolation of any community and intervene before any radicalization and complete isolation takes place.
Policing diverse societies such as cosmopolitan cities is a significant challenge today. However, by being with the community and being responsive and humane, the police will serve the community and the nation more. This way, the police will win people's trust and be treated as part of the community.