Policing the world's largest democracy: enforcement to engagement. | Harssh A Poddar | TEDxGateway
[Applause] what do you think of when you see a police officer before you what were the thoughts that crossed your mind when you saw this fear insecurity an unpleasant experience perhaps there was a time when my thoughts were not very different from yours my journey commences in Kolkata on a street whose only Landmark is the residence of the city's Police Commissioner forbidding unapproachable mansion that building always made me nervous and Afraid today as I stand here before you in uniform I want you to know that it doesn't insulate me from fear but it does remind me that there is a calling great than fear it's called Duty and nowhere is Duty more tested than in situation where our entire Society is seized with widespread violent Fury why were those images so horrifying because you were witnessing the fall of the last Bastion that exists between order and Anarchy you were witnessing Madness that could erase your entire World in a Flash and the one thing that always stands between these two is this uniform imagine yourself a police officer thank you imagine yourself a police officer 10:30 at night in a city called malam the entire week has been spent combating mysterious rumors on WhatsApp about child lifting gangs your phone rings and a panicked voice tells you that a mob is attacking a family suspecting them to be kidnappers you call up the officer in charge of the nearest police station tell him to rush to the spot immediately 10 minutes later he calls you back you can barely hear his voice amidst the screaming a thousand people all violent he needs re enforcements you tell him that no matter what happens that family will not die at the hands of the crowd tonight there is no time to be lost a rescue operation must begin immediately gather your reserve forces and lead them to the heart of the Riot by the time you get there the crowd has tripled in size you place yourself between the Petrified victims and the murderous mob creating a human wall the air thick with rocks being flung like bullets towards you even one sufficient to smash a skull and kill you are at the helm of 100 or so policemen up against a mob of 3,000 wielding swords flinging bricks at you what are you going to do you will face a dilemma here that cuts you into two when you wear kcki you and your men are armed bullets and guns and In the Heat of such horror every human instinct every nerve is going to tell you to kill to return hate with hate but Duty will prevail over Instinct and Duty tells you that these people out to kill you they too are individuals you are for sworn to protect remember we are not the Army we are a protecting force and not a fighting one so when we see those people calling for our blood we cannot see an enemy we see a home we see a family and we see children who would be orphaned with the shot of one bullet by you and that is why you must show maximum restraint every time you decide to use Force you must wait staring death in the eye until more forces arrive the story that you have just lived is the real Narrative of How We rescued five people including a baby from the clutches of a Lynch Mob without injuring a single person it is the real story of how this uniform reach reaches out towards death to save lives that could well be one of you the same uniform that evokes fear and nervousness in your minds and in the mind of a boy in Kolkata 20 years ago this person standing before you just now but the situation of Boyhood and Adolescence in today's world is very different every single individual in that Savage mob every single one was in the age range of 15 to 30 young men venting out their suppressed criminality by hiding behind the numbers of the mob poverty and unemployment certainly factors that push the youth towards crime Maharashtra a state that consistently tops India in development indices unfortunately this is where we stand when it comes to juvenile crime in almost every Terror attempt the accused have been in their 20s and the shocking fact is 60% of them have attended school they are educated they have degrees and this is important because it's a report card of our society miners turning towards crime means that we as a society this progress in employment in education are failing somewhere we've started some initiatives to fill this Gap the one that we found most impactful is the Maharashtra police youth Parliament project in aabad we wanted the youth to engage with the police on preventing crime and Terror how do you do that what if you were to assign real life social issues such as these to children and then ask them to assume the role of a government and come up with ideas to solve these issues you will be surprised with all that they came up with yogesh a young boy in class 7 dealing with terrorism wanted to introduce religious studies in every school classes on how all religions essentially preach nonviolence Sakina while dealing with communal violence wanted every child to spend a few days with a family of another Religion she said that this would help them realize that while Gods May differ in reality in a sense every family is just the same and this is the idea isn't it the fact that once you start talking openly about the solution the chances that who will ever be a part of the problem is nullified one of the boys from a drought struck Village he and I have been in touch for the past two years talking about tol scores University applications and everything that grows into an International Education he called me recently to tell that he had secured a full scholarship to the university college in London to study mathematics his story is the story of a hand that gave up a sword and a stone and grasped a degree and a dream instead a panel of psychologists designed a a test for us to assess how prone teenagers could be towards crime what you see here is the fall in indices among adolescents before and after the project it has succeeded because real decisions to abjure crime cannot be lectured to the youth youth it has to come from within it has to be bottom up and we've replicated the youth Parliament project in 18 districts of the state an area the size of Bangladesh and with a population of the United Kingdom and over two lakh young minds have spoken on this platform against radicalization and communalism from Kapur in the South to nandurbar in the north we are fighting the war against Crime and Terror not just on the streets but on the Battlefield of the Mind but in most of your minds our own story is trapped between two stereotypes it is either the story of the corrupt compromised cop or it is the story of Singham an over-the-top superhero is that model of a police officer really good enough for the 21st century we need and deserve a police force that understands India that understands religion cast politics Agriculture and it is only then that we can hope to police the largest democracy that human history has ever seen but who is to teach us all of this it is you each one of you we cannot hope to to succeed until we know you and trust me this is not that difficult the next time you see a police person on your street 12 hours on duty so that you can celebrate ganpati or Diwali or Eid invite him into your house offer him a cup of tea let him use your washroom or charge his phone be there for him when you celebrate and he will be there through your worries and tragedies [Applause] and I say this from personal experience when I lost my father to a sudden heart attack I felt vulnerable in a very raw and helpless way that helplessness is what a victim of crime suffers it's a feeling that no one here is immune to and when you are in a crisis you need someone who can do more than just console you it has to be someone who can do something about your predicament I'm here to tell you that that someone is me and lacks of my colleagues wearing this uniform please please please let that be the thought that crosses your mind when you see this next and just that will be the greatest reward for what we do and for what we are the Indian police thank you very much Jin [Applause] [Applause]