Competency in Police Administration: A Study of two Police Units in Andhra Pradesh
| Date | 01 July 2012 |
| Author | N. Chaitanya Pradeep,G. Sudarshanam |
| Published date | 01 July 2012 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120120318 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
COMPETENCY IN POLICE ADMINISTRATION: A
STUDY
OF
TWO
POLICE
UNITS
IN
ANDHRA
PRADESH
G.
SUDARSHANAM AND
N.
CHAITANYA
PRADEEP
Competence constitutes critical resource
in
the context
of
police organisation's capability
to
meet the challenges and
stay effective. Besides being a central resource
in
itself, for
productive utilisation
of
human resource requires police
management to keep the subordinate police officers
in
high
competency bracket. In
other
words, competency is a
necessary condition for effective policing. It helps the police
organisation
to
meet the challenges that have surfaced due
to the globalisation and technological proliferation. The
purpose
of
this article
is
to
understand how
the
competency
of
the police personnel
is
being influenced by the managerial
factors. However, this perspective is different from
traditional ways
of
viewing competence
in
the strategic
management
and
organisational theory literature. The
present article argues that competency
in
police organisation
is not only determined by the quality and composition
of
resources per
se,
but also the way
in
which they are being
managed and motivated.
INTRODUCTION
"COMPETENCY HAS been treated in applied parts
of
the strategic
literature predominantly
on·
a macro organisational level."
1
As a result,
the issues
of
competency at micro level were not adequately examined
especially in public organisations. In this context, there is a need to
understand the determinants
of
competency at micro level (i.e. the
relationship between personnel and administration) before analysing the
performance
of
public organisations. However, the organs
of
public
'Naugle,
D.
G.
and Davies,
G.
A., "Strategic-Skill Pools and Competitive Advantage".
Business Horiwns,
pp. 35-42, 1987.
478
I
INDIAN JOURNAL
OF
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
VOL. LV/ll,
NO.
3,
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2012
administration have been observed as an essential part
of
the state,
indispensable agencies
of
government and dominant factor even in this
technological age. These organs are expected to play a pivotal role
especially in developing countries like India. It was realised in the
21st
Century that public administration is supposed to be an effective,
efficient, accountable, moral and sensitive machinery
of
the state, which
is what the objective
of
good governance describes. "Unfortunately the
role
of
public administration in a developing country is much more
quantitative while in a developed country it is much more qualitative in
nature"
2•
The quality
of
administration can be judged on the basis
of
its
level
of
services, similarly its existence can be realised on the extent to
which it promotes and protects its basic principle function that is the
protection
of
human rights
of
the citizens. "Peace, stability and prosperity
are not possible in any society without proper law and order condition".
It
can be understood that it is law and order which can be considered as
the basic atmosphere
of
the progress and prosperity.
However, maintenance
of
law and order is the first condition for the
working
of
democratic institutions. While developmental administration is the
need
of
the
day,
one can't easily brush aside the importance oflaw and order.
When the administration
of
a country is viewed as a macro system, the
administration
of
law and order falls within the micro system covering three
clearly identifiable sub-systems that
is
the police, the judiciary, and the criminal
justice administration. The term 'law and order' covers a wide spectrum
of
situations, behavioural attitudes and operations, which have a bearing on the
orderly existence
of
the community. 'Public order' signifies the state
of
tranquility prevailing among the members
of
the society.
Law and order mostly relates to the police administration. Indeed police
are a very important element in the life
of
a nation, "they are not only
directly responsible for the safety and prevention
of
crime but also for
keeping the administrative system intact.''
3
In
215
1
Century's democratic
countries especially
in
Indian context, unless it includes the word 'sensitivity'
the objectives
of
the policies and the constitution will remain unfulfilled.
Similarly, the primary role
of
police is to increase the systems' efficiency,
so that violators
of
the law will be brought to trial and punishment.
Unfortunately the functions and affairs
of
police are not treated as part
of
developmental activity. Policing affairs have been constructed to be a
non-development component and most
of
the academics devoted greater
2
Avasti & Maheswari, "Public Administration", Lakshmi Narayan Agrawal, Agra,
3,
p.
10,
1984.
3
Kanitkar,
V.G.,
"Our Police, Need for Drastic Reforms'',
Indian Journal
of
Public
Administration,
Vol.
XXIV, No.1, January-March, p.71, 1978.
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