An IPS officer of 1988 batch, Satyajit Mohanty is a potential and progressive think-tank belonging to higher echelons of the Odisha police administration. In an eventful career spanning nearly three decades, he has been posted in a number of police districts and ranges. He has left indelible imprints while working in various departments beginning from anti-corruption wings, fire service, civil defence, police headquarters, Training Academy and Police Housing and Welfare Corporation. Presently, he is positioned as ADGP in the State Police Headquarters in Cuttack. He has a brilliant academic achievement of excellence to his credit. Bestowed with a Master of Science degree and Bachelor Degree in law from the Utkal University and having a Master Degree in Human Rights from the Pondicherry University, he is further adorned with a Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy & Management from the IIM, Bangalore, the Maxwell School of Public Policy and the Syracuse University, USA. An incessant explorer of knowledge, he is at present pursuing his PhD from the National law University, Cuttack. As part of his monumental contributions to his profession, he has authored five books of much value and interest, namely, ‘Human Rights in Policing’, ‘Human Behaviour & Police ethics’, ‘Police in India: Role, Responsibility & Accountability’ and ‘Criminology’. His latest book, “Community Policing as a Public Policy’, has just been published by the prestigious Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK. He has been functioning as a member of Micro Mission-2 of National Police Mission, BPR&D, MHA, New Delhi, since 2008 and has been researching in the field of community policing. Besides, he has also been functioning as the Nodal Officer of the State-level community policing scheme in Odisha. He is a guest resource person of the National Police Academy, Hyderabad, the Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, Bhubaneswar, and the Judicial Academy, Cuttack. He takes keen interest in sports and games. He is a tennis player of te State police team. Presently, he is vice-president of the Odisha Tennis Association. He is a recipient of Police Medal for Meritorious Service in the year 2004 and the coveted President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2012. In an interview to The Pioneer, Mohanty spoke to Sugyan Choudhury explaining on many relevant issues concerning the system of policing in our society.
What prompted you to join IPS leaving behind your career in IRTSIJ
The Indian Railways is the national carrier of the country and has been rendering great service to the nation. I considered that by joining police service, I would be able to impact directly to the lives, safety and security concerns of the people.
You are a protagonist of people’s police or “Ama Police”. Will it remain as a slogan or will it be a realityIJ
“Ama Police”, the overarching community policing initiatives that has been introduced in our State since 2013 as the public policy, is next only to Kerala. Community policing is an organisational philosophy with community partnership as the main strategy in which the police and public become co-producer of public safety. Ama Police functions on a three-tier structure with beat policing as the mainstay. It is a manpower intensive project. In order to overcome the shortage of manpower in the organisation, we have constituted an Ama Police Samiti in each police station. The Samiti members, who represent the cross section of the population under a police station, hold a meeting with the officer-in-charge of a police station once every month. The policing priorities on the basis of citizen’s input have been tailored for mutual benefit. This practice of continuous dialogue with the members of public has been institutionalised in the State. This will go a long way in making police more accountable and in enlisting public cooperationn.
In countries like the UK, police have reached an enviable position by winning the trust of the people. How then Indian police have not yet reached the target after 69 years of independenceIJ
In the UK, the police evolve from the early 19th century mutual pledge system to the modern consensual system of policing. Sir Robert Peel laid the foundation of modern police in Britain, which is based on the premises that policemen are citizens in uniform. In India, the foundation of modern police was laid by the Police Act of 1861 by the colonial rulers in the immediate aftermath of the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857. The Indian police had the mandate of suppressing the native resistant movements against the colonial rulers. But the police continued with that mould even in the post-independence era. However, there has been a number of sweeping reforms in the past two decades in our country to make police more accountable, service-oriented and people-friendly. New Police Acts are being enacted by the States with an objective to uphold the rule of law, respecting human rights, being a service as opposed to being a force, people-friendly strategies etc. The old Police Acts needed to be amended long since for the people to reap the benefit by this time.
You have earned a reputation of being an honest and upright mandarin of the police administration and have also written many books on policing. Being an example of isolation will never deliver the goods. What steps have you initiated to spread transparency down the lineIJ
I strongly believe that the police organisation has great potential not only in transforming the socioeconomic condition of the society but touching lives of millions who are deprived of asserting their rights. In a way, it is a tool for social engineering and can endear itself to the people it serves as in case of many developed democracies. I take time off my schedule to deliver talks to the officer trainees at State as well as at National Police Academy, law schools and universities to share my views and experiences with them. If a few of them believe in that philosophy and become change-agents, I will have a sense of fulfilment. Transparency is an ethical issue and one has to be led by example.
Even today, the general public is scared of police reminding us a colonial hangover. Police cannot work effectively without taking general public into their confidence. What steps are on the anvil to bridge the gapIJ
This has been already highlighted to some extent in the earlier discussions. In a democracy in which the people are the masters, the police should remain accountable to the people it serves, to the law and organisation, in that order. Today, the accountability of police is lopsided. While it should be operationally independent, it has to remain accountable to both internal and external overseeing agencies for its action, inaction or excesses. This aspect is the weak link in the system. In developed democracies, it has been a practice to make police more accountable. Besides, a robust civil society, an independent media and good governance practices like right to information, right to public service are expected to make police more accountable and its functioning more transparent. Moreover, community policing philosophy has to be part of the organisational mission.