Police Restraint..!

“Be gentle!” whispered his boss.The policeman looked puzzled. “With whom, sir?”“The protesters!”“Ah,” said the policeman, adjusting his baton. “Special instructions!”And there, dear reader, lies the problem. Why should gentleness arrive as a special instruction? Is it equipment kept in police headquarters, issued only when the government suspects that another swinging lathi might swing public opinion?From what I saw of the events on the tenth, the police, by and large, exercised considerable restraint. Yes, there were disturbing videos showing excessive force. Those incidents deserve scrutiny. But they should not erase the restraint shown elsewhere, just as restraint elsewhere cannot excuse those incidents.Mobile phones were everywhere, ready to record. A few ugly moments could travel farther than hours of patient policing.Which brings me to a question.If our police can exercise restraint on one difficult day, could they please extend the offer to the remaining days of the year?“Sorry,” says the constable. “That scheme was valid only on the tenth!”“Any festive discount?”“Come during the next major protest!”We have reached a strange situation when ordinary citizens approach a police station with the expression of somebody entering a dentist’s clinic after being told that the anaesthetic has run out.A man loses his wallet.“Go to the police,” advises his wife.He checks his pockets again.“Perhaps I can manage without the wallet!”Why should an innocent person rehearse his explanation outside a police station? Why should somebody seeking help wonder whether he will emerge feeling like the accused?Surely the uniform ought to reassure us before the questioning begins.Two months ago, in Chicago, I saw police organising an evening in a park. There were ice creams and snacks for children and parents. Officers were meeting families, talking, smiling and telling the children that they were their friends.Imagine that.A child saw a policeman and ran towards him!Here, many parents still discipline children by threatening, “The police will come!”We introduce our protectors as childhood monsters, then wonder why adults hesitate to ask them for protection.Perhaps our men in khaki could start changing that story. Visit neighbourhoods. Learn names. Listen without barking. Help an elderly person without making him feel he has interrupted an investigation of international importance.An ice cream will not reform an institution. But the attitude behind offering one might begin something worthwhile.And please, gentleness does not mean allowing violence. A firm officer can stop wrongdoing without humiliating people. Authority does not become weaker because its voice becomes calmer.What troubles me is the possibility that restraint depends on frightened political bosses calculating whether brutality will make tomorrow’s headlines worse.Public trust deserves a better foundation than political nervousness.Let patience become training. Let courtesy become habit. Let accountability make excessive force costly, whoever orders it.The citizen at the station door should meet the same restraint as the crowd before the cameras.Because the finest policeman is one whose arrival makes an innocent person feel safer, every single day..!The Author conducts an online, eight session Writers and Speakers Course. If you’d like to join, do send a thumbs-up to WhatsApp number 9892572883 or send a message to bobsbanter@gmail.com