Projected Public Expenditure on Law Enforcement Agencies—A Case Study of Punjab State
| Author | Simranjeet Singh Bains |
| Published date | 01 October 2015 |
| Date | 01 October 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0019556120150409 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PROJECTED PUBLIC EXPENDITURE ON LAW
ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
-A
CASE STUDY
OF
PUNJAB STATE
SIMRANJEET SINGH BAINS
Public expenditure bears the responsibility
for
sustained
economic development. Internal disturbances
and
high crime
rates prove detrimental
to
the economic health
of
a nation. The
present article is an attempt to ascertain the future trends
of
crime and public expenditure on police services in Punjab up
till 2023.
The total police expenditure is highly dependent on total crime
in the Punjab state as the value
of
R2 is 0.885 and, moreover,
both these variables have very high degree
of
correlation
to the extent
of
0.941. Lastly, some suggestions are made.
A future research unit must be established at Punjab Police
headquarters. Through the use
of
enyironmental scanning
and
analytical examining
of
the right data with appropriate
forecasting methods, the future research unit may produce
forecasts
and
policy options that allow police department to
surmount the odds
of
preferable future from among the many
existing alternatives.
INTRODUCTION
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE bears the responsibility to create a suitable
personal, social and business-friendly environment so as to promote
investment
in
an economy. Internal disturbances and high crime rates prove
democratic living detrimental and create hurdles in the path
of
economic
development. Most
of
the nations facing such problems are incurring huge
public expenditure on maintaining defence and internal security. Even
Adam Smith advocated that the government should restrict its activities to
justice, police and arms.
In the economic literature, there are several contradictory hypotheses
concerning the behaviour
of
public internal security expenditures. Starting
PROJECTED
PUBLIC
EXPENDITURE
ON
LAW
ENFORCEMENT
AGENCIES
I
71
S
SIMRANJEET SINGH BAINS
from a basically pessimistic view
of
the nature
of
man, Adolph Wagner
believed that the ratio-income-elasticity for internal security expenditures
is greater than zero because
of
the increasing social strains arising from
urbanisation and the increasing need for judicial settlement
of
disputes
stemming from the ever-growing complexity
of
life. On the supply side,
relations between the volume
of
expenditures on police
or
the number
of
police personnel and their ostensible effects are quite complex. Certain
intricacies can be seen by looking at two dimensions
of
such effects: the
suppression
of
political opposition to the Government (Police terror) and
the prevention
of
crime (Pryor, 1968).
Economic liberalisation and the impact
of
technological development
on crime and its control are the key factors, which guide the future
of
policing in India. These developments will force the police to engineer it
in line with the police systems
in
the developed countries. Police will have
to transfonn itself into a truly community-oriented and service-minded
agency. Conventional crimes will give way
to
economic and white-collar
crimes.
To
deal with this situation not only a more professional, specialised
and intelligent police force would be required but a competent judiciary and
a set
of
lawyers who understand the subtle nuances
of
these new forms
of
crime are also needed (Koshy, 1988).
The pressure
of
population and scarcity
of
resources in the next
millennium is going· to give rise to criminality and criminal tendencies,
particularly among the younger lots, causing innumerable pressures on the
law and order maintenance (Dutta, 1999). With the accentuation
of
social
tensions and fissiparous tendencies, there has been a tremendous growth
in the commitments
of
police quantitatively as well
as
qualitatively (Aujla,
200 I). It is a matter
of
concern that an attitude is fast developing that any
illegitimate act is possible, through money and patronage. Excise laws
are flouted because the spoils are shared with the same people, who are
to implement the excise laws. Civil disputes are settled outside courts, by
threat and coercion because this is only what works. There are umpteen
examples
of
such nature (Dutta, 1999).
Another possibility
is
the change in the very nature
of
crime. The
pattern
of
incidence
of
crime depends on the nature
of
economy. In
agrarian societies crime centred around land, agricultural produces and
implements while in industrial societies crimes relates to industry, its
produces, etc. With the advent
of
what Alvin Toffier calls the Third Wave
or
the Infonnation Revolution, crimes would also witness a shift towards
the field oflnfonnation Technology and its products. Classified information
regarding credit card numbers and activities
of
customers, bank accounts
and balances, information regarding the internal finances
of
companies
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