Santosh Mehra | Cataclysm in 30 seconds: Lessons for the next decade in policing
Over 10 days back, a group of three people posing as journalists killed a gangster Atiq Ahmed in Prayagraj despite the presence of police personnel guarding him. The assailants surrendered to police and the attack was captured and broadcast live on television across India.
This attack raced back my thoughts to the mid-90s when I attended a course on proximate security. During the training, my instructor thundered, “Saheb, apne ankhe aur kaan hamesha khule rakhiye. Kyonki halki si bhi harkat ya aawaz kisi hadse ka agaaz ho sakti hain” (Keep your eyes and ears always open. Even the slightest movement or sound can be a sign of an impending calamity).
He taught to us two very fundamental principles of VIP protection:
1. The most important weapon that a Personal Security Officer (PSO) carries is not the pistol in his holster, but the eyes and the ears on his head.
2. Practice eye and hand coordination for quick reflexive action as the difference between life and death may be merely a few milliseconds.
According to a study conducted by a group of British scientists, led by Dr Andrew Welchman, in the University of Birmingham, “Your brain takes around 200 milliseconds to respond to what your opponent is doing, but it could mean the difference between life and death.”
One’s success or failure on a playground or probability of survival on a battlefield depend primarily upon his ability to quickly assess an evolving situation and respond to it in real time. Studies indicate that ‘reaction time’ available to Virendra Sehwag against an express delivery from bowler Shoaib Akhtar or to tennis star Roger Federer against a fast first-serve from Novak Djokovic is just around 0.3 seconds. Fast bowler John Snow summed up this phenomenon as speed defeats reactions’.
American actors Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson survived and won in the Wild Western movies, because they could whip out their weapons and shoot at their adversaries in a flash. It is that simple — Whoever shoots first, wins. And survives.
Failure to react in time may cost you a wicket or a point in sports. But, policing is brutally unsparing. Here, it costs jobs, lives, and reputation. It all happened in Uttar Pradesh about 10 days back, and the whole world witnessed it on prime time television.
It took less than 30 seconds and 18 bullets, to sully the reputation of UP government, assiduously built over seven years of hard work. The rank unprofessionalism and failure to act in a timely and effective manner, by the posse of policemen, surrounding the two gangsters, was shocking.
However, to be fair, “reaction time” lapses are not uncommon. In the last one year, we have seen many unfortunate incidents that come under the realm of ‘proximate security’.
Shine Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, was shot dead in July 2022, while addressing a roadside meeting by a man at a close-range with a local firearm. On January 29, Odisha health minister Naba Kishore Das was shot dead by an assistant sub-inspector of police, even before other members of the minister’s security detail could react and overpower him.
Similarly, incidents of undertrial prisoners being shot down by the rival gangs in courts or in transit, despite heavy police presence, are not uncommon. In September 2021, dreaded don Jitendra Gogi was shot dead in broad daylight in the Rohini court in Delhi by two rival gangsters — who came dressed as lawyers — before the accompanying armed reserve members of Delhi Police could react and kill them in retaliatory fire.
In September 1999, when the car of an IPS officer Umesh Chandra stopped at a traffic signal in Hyderabad, armed Naxalites suddenly sprang up on both the sides of his car and shot him dead, along with his gunman and driver in the broad daylight..It was all over in a few seconds.
There is a common thread that connects these events. If you watch the Youtube video clips of killings of underworld don Jitendra Gogi in Rohini court in 2021, or that of witness Umesh Pal and his two gunmen, or of mafia dons Atiq Ahmad and Ashraf, you will understand that the failure of the policemen to quickly assess the situation and take prompt preemptive action is the key reason for their deaths. I call the time taken to assess the situation and take preemptive action as ‘Ambience Appreciation and Quick Reaction Time (AA & QRT)’.
If you ask my instructor at the police academy about the shootout at Prayagraj, he could have said: “Police wallon ki aankh aur kaan khule nahin the (The police was not alert).
In fact, I would say the police were neither alert nor alive to the situation. In the Umesh Pal case, the policeman was looking ‘down’ and casually opening the front left door of the car initially, oblivious of the shots being fired and grenades being lobbed at the protectee. By the time he realised what was happening, it was too late. He paid for his mistake with his life. In the Atiq Ahmad case, the policemen appear to be on an early morning stroll, blissfully unaware of how (and when) the killers approached them, how (and when) they came so perilously close, whipped out and cocked their weapons; and how they aimed and shot at the victims. Both AA & QRT were, in my opinion, abysmally lacking.
Such police failures at the field level cause major embarrassment to the government and would badly impact its image. If the police leadership fails to learn its lessons and take urgent remedial measures, history will continue to repeat itself.
So what can be done to prevent such embarrassments?
If the state governments are keen to prevent such embarrassments in future, they should take several measures to augment the capacity of the police force, enhance intelligence networks and frame necessary legal support systems.
State’s elite force
Most often, people identify elite commandos from the SPG , NSG and SSGs for clinical response to any situation. However, they are little islands of excellence, as they get top class training, equipment and allowances.
The elite commandos provide security to a chosen few, while the state level police personnel perform heavy duty tasks of either providing security to protectees like Umesh Pal or escorting convicts or undertrials like Atiq Ahmad to courts or hospitals on almost daily basis.
The state police are poorly trained, ill-equipped and low on morale due to poor work conditions. Naturally, they fail miserably in crucial situations which demand real-time or live assessment of a fast evolving situation and quicksilver responses.
So the state governments should raise a unit of — say 250 — police personnel on the lines of NSG for ‘Proximate Protection’ duties.
SOPs on access control and frisking
In a famous instance bordering on hilarity, a security officer countered the persistence of a local politician — who wanted entry into a VIP’s residence, citing his close proximity to the latter — by saying: ‘Even the balls are very close. But, they are not allowed in’.
The country needs such police personnel, who follow standard operating protocol in both letter and spirit. However, we find such personnel few and far between in this country. Despite being aware of several instances like the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, policemen are reluctant to enforce frisking and access control protocols on journalists, lawyers, local politicians and all-India service officers. Sometimes such lapses result in disastrous consequences. The police must, therefore, insist on strict adherence to security protocols.
Research and Analysis Wing
Documentation and circulation of case studies is very important. Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. A certain intelligence agency religiously brings out an excellent “Security Digest” on a periodic basis, which gets circulated to all central and state police forces. As it mostly covers issues related to national and VVIP security, the police department should form a proper “Analysis and Review Wing”, which can take note of ‘the bread and butter’ issues of routine policing, prepare case studies and circulate them for absorption in different police formations.
Legislative Advocacy and Organisational Support
Contrary to the popular perception of them being trigger happy, most Indian policemen are reluctant to open fire, even when faced with life and death situations. ‘Risk avoidance’ is embedded in their cerebral software. Their default mode, even in critical situations, is mostly to flee, or to look the other way or respond in slow-motion. This is exactly what was on display on television screens in the Atiq Ahmad case. Even after the initial gaffe, the policemen could have somewhat retrieved the situation and saved, perhaps at least one life, by opening fire on the killers. A window of opportunity, though very narrow, was perhaps available to them. But they didn’t act. Why? This is because opening fire by a policeman is fraught with serious consequences for his career, family and reputation. The law ordains that a policeman can open fire only in self defence.
Across the country and over decades, it has translated into the belief that a policeman should fire only after he has been fired upon. Unlike the protection afforded to the personnel of armed forces operating in areas that are under the AFSP Act, a policeman has to face, at least a long winding magisterial enquiry, and sometimes a judicial one. He is invariably suspended or mostly kept without a posting. Very often, he has to face the ignominy of having a case of murder registered against him and investigated into.
Till the completion of enquiry or investigation of the criminal case, and his eventual exoneration, if at all, he cannot be promoted. He is treated as a pariah by all, including his department. He is mostly left to fend for himself. The whole world, including the media, human right institutions and bleeding-heart liberals would rally against him. This takes an enormous physical, mental and financial toll on a policeman.
So, there is an urgent need to amend some laws and standard operating protocols (SOPs), develop an institutional mechanism by which genuine and bonafide errors in judgments by a policeman do not result in his persecution or victimisation. In absence of such supportive systems, most policemen will perhaps prefer to play safe, at the cost of the nation and society.
Intelligence
It sounds clichéd but intelligence continues to be the lifeline of successful police functioning. It deserves greater focus and importance, particularly in north Indian states. For example, in the recent UP killings, proper threat perception analysis and follow-up measures could have perhaps averted the tragedies.
Leveraging Technology
Despite giant strides made in the implementation of CCTNS and ICJS (Interoperable Criminal Justice System), it is not understood why undertrials and prisoners are still required to be brought physically to courts for bail or routine hearing. It is high time that the judiciary and executive put their heads together and issue some clear SOPs to lessen this burden on the police force. It will save tremendous human and financial resources, apart from minimising possibilities of killings in transit.
Sometimes unexpected events or gorry incidents, though tragic and unfortunate, offer a great opportunity to governments and the police leadership to enhance professionalism and accountability in policing. Options are limited but very obvious. Spend some money and strengthen institutional frameworks; or be prepared for another fiasco, in future. Choice is yours.
