No sting operation this
thumb_up 95
Written By silkboard - 26 October, 2007
Traffic
Bangalore
Police
BTRAC
Citizen Reports
Enforcement
efficiency
productively
I swear, I was not trying a sting operation here. Though I do wish our electronic media tried sting operations at these day-to-day levels as well, but they are on to bigger things :)
[flickr-photo:id=1759879129,size=m]
I like observing these situations though. The 'negotiation' lingers on, hands go in and out of various pockets - driver's license in cop's, wallet out of the 'entrapped', bike key in to the supporting cop. Faces frown, a little bit of sulking and threats later, peace is made. We know all this, but whats the good way of dealing with this stuff? Can you and me do anything to better it? I don't have a problem with harassment. Bribe or not, the 'offender' could learn a lesson. But fining a random guy with torn registration paper, or expired license isn't worth this much time. There are bigger crimes happening on the road that go unnoticed, like speeding (can cause death), driving on the wrong side, overloaded lorries and maxi-cabs, reckless driving. Moreover, this really isn't policing. Its more of random picking just for the sake of it.
[Note: I took this particular picture in Pune]
RTI exposes corruption in Bangalore City Corporation (ibnlive)
N Vikramsimha and Veera Belur, Right To Information (RTI) activists and trustees of the RTI Study Centre, pour over documents from the Bangalore City Corporation to find out where computers worth Rs 3.4 crore purchased in 2005 are.
“Physically, the computers are not in existence. The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has old computers, which were bought much earlier. Corporation may have 120 divisional offices but they've bought 1,750 pay roll packages, which is ridiculous,” says Vikramsimha.
The computers being used at the corporation are easily eight years old. And it has to make do with the ageing machines despite the internal audit report of the corporation mentioning the non-delivery of the systems that were purchased. And it is this report that the RTI is using to press for a Lokayukta enquiry.
Also Read: ‘BBMP violated norms in computer purchase’(Hindu)
the BBMP had purchased computers worth Rs. 3.39 crore without bringing it to the notice of the BBMP Expert Committee. No entries were made in the stock register in this regard, they alleged. World Bank funds reserved for development work were misused.
The Chief Auditor of BBMP had, in his report in 2006, brought the malpractices to the notice of then BBMP Commissioner. But no action was taken, they alleged.
The BBMP was now trying to cover up malpractices by taking steps that had to be followed prior to purchase, they said.
There have been so many occasions where I have seen the lorry guys slip some moolah into a cops hand...
I dont think someone like Tehelka will be interested in this as this does not have enough "oomph" value
Stopping policemen from bribing is very difficult. I see lot of police do not doing any other duty other than waiting to catch hold of someone and do negotiation with him to get the bribe.
How can this be stopped?
I repeat the first comment on this topic
"Just as military should not be called in to handle city riots and other civilian problems, the police should not be doing traffic duties.
In today's world of increasing crimes and violence, the police force needs to be specially trained to handle these more serious problems.
Let us outsource traffic handling to security agencies/NCC/Scouts/Home Guards, etc. It will be much cheaper, more efficient, less corruption-prone, etc., etc."
City Zen
Just as military should not be called in to handle city riots and other civilian problems, the police should not be doing traffic duties.
In today's world of increasing crimes and violence, the police force needs to be specially trained to handle these more serious problems.
Let us outsource traffic handling to security agencies/NCC/Scouts/Home Guards, etc. It will be much cheaper, more efficient, less corruption-prone, etc., etc.
Police are corrupt because the bribing starts even before they are inducted.
A poor but very fit boy, karate black belt, had applied for a PC's post in Vellore. After the interview, the policemen came to his house to negotiate the price which was 1 lakh. Since he could not afford to pay, he came to Bangalore instead, joined a BPO and is today earning 2.4 lakhs per annum and happier than what he would have been as a PC.
Maybe things might improve if we delink the police dept. from the govt., and politicians.
Maybe occasional overall supervision can be entrusted to not-so-fit police officers.
Are we aware that it does not need a policeman to make the arrest, even a civilian like you and me can do it, if we have the guts and the force to do it? Please correct me if I am wrong here.
City Zen
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!
