Time to see the writing on the wall
What happened on August 31, 2012, in which members of the Quick Reaction Team belonging to the Kohima Village Youth Organization (KVYO) had taken the law into their own hands and the subsequent events which followed, all this is now a thing of the past. Earlier this year, commenting on an incident, in which volunteers of the KVYO were reportedly directed to evict shops from the Super Market Complex in Kohima, this column had questioned how the State government was allowing non-state actors to do something which is essentially the role of the administration and police. Even before that the Morung Express had raised a few concerns about this whole thing of community policing. In an editorial sometime in the year 2011 we had raised this “question as to whether such a concept is practical and even advisable in our present Naga situation where already there is so much of conflict, distrust and misunderstanding of our tribes, groups, clans, parties, colonies etc”. Please note what the editorial had then forewarned: “What will happen if community policing turns to mob violence, lawlessness and even more conflict”. Further we had stated that “community policing will require outmost discipline, respect for authority and law, sound judgment and reasoning etc”. Do we have these qualities? Obviously no.
Now this newspaper is not here trying to make proud claims. We only wish that those in government could sometimes look into the viewpoints of others, although we as a newspaper may be too small and insignificant. We had said before and will reiterate again that nothing can replace a professional, capable and sincere police force. Fighting crimes, maintaining law and order is the job of the police not the community. And this was what we had then suggested to the “higher authorities in the Home Ministry and Police Headquarters to reflect and correct upon”. Now one wonders as to why the concerned authority of the Nagaland police and the Home Department they are so insistent to implement community policing whether in the commercial hub of Dimapur or State Capital Kohima. Recently a series of 'Conference of Police and Civil Societies' has been organized by the Nagaland Police department deliberating on “how to strengthen community policing to restore law and order, peace and safety and security of citizens”. In fact this column has been maintaining that cosmopolitan Dimapur or Kohima is actually the worst case scenario for community policing. The police top brass may claim that community policing prevailed in Naga society before the advent of the British into Naga soil. But this is an erroneous claim to make in this 21st century era of modernization and other changes taking place in our society.
For instance the recent eviction drive in Intangki National Park was carried out by the police force in a thoroughly professional manner without any conflict of interest. This is to the credit of modern policing derived from a legal-rational authority, which is based on the rule of law. Let us give more emphasis in improving and strengthening our existing police force/machinery. So we need to be careful when we explore the possibilities of community policing. If we are not cautious, something like community policing could even lead to more violence and even tribal wars as we have witnessed. And perhaps if they care to see the writing on the wall, the higher ups in the State government should do a midcourse correction.
