Imkong Walling
The day was July 27, 2026. The venue was the Nagaland Police Complex, Chümoukedima. There was a pride of legislators led by the Chief Minister. Rolling out a fleet of newly acquired vehicles funded via a restructured Police Modernisation scheme of the Government of India was the occasion.
The fleet consisted of 561 vehicles, arguably the single biggest acquisition of motor transport in the history of the department. It even had 12 forensic vans, according to the figures released by the Nagaland Police that day.
Conditioned to seeing worn out police vehicles, brand new ones smoothly rolling by without the customary dents, cracks, creaks and engine knocks was a sight worthy of suave social media reels.
As these new cars hit the rutted roads, an obvious gap in the state police comes to fore— deficiencies in specialised investigative aids and units, forensic science being one. It has long been evident that the state police have been running on ageing transport, and the acquirement brought in much needed replacements.
The question, however, is on allocating a big chunk of ‘Modernisation’ fund to acquiring vehicles. Why could not the state government use state funds to replace old vehicles?
If only there had been political will, the government could have implemented a staggered system of phasing out ageing vehicles, while dedicating ‘Modernisation’ funds from the Centre to upskilling, upgrading and introducing specialised units.
The state of affairs is made worse by a culture of political appointments and transfers. Officers and personnel, close to the ruling regime, consistently get “plum” postings in convenient locations, which, in effect, translate into postings in either Dimapur or Kohima, or home districts.
The reasoning behind ‘transfers and postings’ are well-evident. It ensures the personnel get exposed to different environments, while apparently keeping in check corruption. On the flipside, it also ensures officers, with a flair for IT and computers and other special skills, getting posted to positions where such skills would become redundant.
The consequences of a largely military-oriented police force are most visible when it comes to managing civil unrest. When public demonstrations occur, armed personnel trained primarily in counter-insurgency are called up. Seeing India Reserve (IR) personnel, with battle rifles, tasked with crowd control is routine. Even the Special Task Force (STF) gets deployed at the slightest sign of a public protest.
Meanwhile, Investigation Officers at the police stations are made to investigate all sorts of crimes, besides law and order duties.
The irony becomes glaring when elected leaders keep talking about upgrading and improving civil policing, and evolving alongside the changing nature of crime. On the ground, no effort worth mention is made to turn their rhetoric into deeds. Juxtapose this with a situation where forensic science graduates within the state have been calling for job creation.
Until the policy-makers align their spending with their rhetoric, the talk of a modernised force will remain plain speech. There is more to policing than simply buying new vehicles.
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
