The rising hooliganism on the streets, of various kinds, places a serious question mark on the image Uttarakhand has of itself. Incidents of road rage, youths quarreling, women being harassed, stunt driving, are just a few manifestations of this malaise. In a society that traditionally has maintained a respectful attitude towards each other, inspired by the culture of the hills and the educated civility of cities like Dehradun and Nainital, this new ‘normal’ comes as an unpleasant surprise.
This cultural shift may be due to an increased presence of ‘outsiders’ – persons who do not have much stake in maintaining the local norms – and because of the rampant decline in values on social media, which greatly influences the youth of today. How then is the state going to handle this new law and order challenge? Why are young people not afraid of the consequences of such foolishness? It is a fact that even though the perpetrators can create mayhem for a brief but significant period of time, the chances of their being caught by police are much greater than ever before because of the increased availability of tracking technology.
One reason is that the psychological aspect of policing is either not understood by the authorities concerned, or not being implemented properly. Any citizen who has an interaction with the police, be it the constable on the beat or the district police chief, should be inspired by a sense of respect for the force. The cops’ attitude should be such that the innocent feel safe and the guilty afraid. Instead, the common belief is that the rich and powerful get a different deal, no matter how much they have violated the law. On the other hand, the victims of crime may lose out if they are ‘ordinary’ citizens. This attitude encourages the entitled to break the law on a regular basis.
It is the duty of the senior officials of the police, particularly those entrusted with the training of personnel, to not just inculcate a sense of dedication and purpose among them, but to also teach them ways of winning people’s respect. The occasional cop who does his or her job in the proper manner should not come as a surprise to citizens. Once it becomes clear that police action will be taken in the proper way in every case, without fear or favour, the habit of challenging the law will greatly decrease among the general public. The police can then focus more on dealing with professional criminals.
