Study on State of Policing, Law & Justice

State of Policing, Law & Justice during the current times is being determined more by headlines rather than data. The public perception is also determined by the headlines. Reaction or perception may vary from one state to another, owing to the headlines available. This may not represent a true picture. 

Who decides how police administrations have been performing? In recent times, their performance seems to be determined more by media-driven public perception rather than data. It is being argued that a state has failed in women safety, whereas NCRB data would suggest the contrary. Media hype may not often reflect reality. The SKOCH State of Policing, Law & Justice Study goes beyond headlines and focus on outcomes and evidence-based on field inputs.

Undoubtedly, policing is the most important form of law enforcement that is on the frontlines of any conflict to maintain social harmony, law and order in society. Work from Home is throwing in a new breed of cybercriminals leading to an increase in financial frauds. 

SKOCH has been studying the transformational initiatives being undertaken in policing including IT. We have continuously captured cutting-edge innovations and projects which deploy technology, systems and processes to ensure effective policing. The SKOCH State of Policing, Law & Justice Study captures the best practices of various police, law enforcement agencies and also the judicial system at the level of centre, state and district, which have been instrumental in effecting positive social change. 

SKOCH has been studying various policing, law encouragement and justice initiatives both at the state and central level for long. As far back as 2006, SKOCH documented the success story of the e-Committee that was constituted under the Chairmanship of Justice G C Bharukha for computerisation that drafted the National Policy and Action Plan for ICT enablement of the Indian judiciary. The Indian justice delivery system, has since been transformed by embracing complete automation from filing of a case to grant of a certified copy. Cause Lists and tracking of cases has become online and so on, resulting in improvement of the system. 

This change has been more evident during COVID19, when the courts at all three levels, Districts, High Courts and Supreme Court have become virtual and are conducting their daily business seamlessly. 

In another study on homeland security, we did an extensive documentation on country’s cyber preparedness and response, Integrated Action Plan, CCTNS, handling of LWE, NATGRID and widespread adoption of IT.  

A number of important initiatives have been undertaken by the government recently, as follows: 

1. The Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) has been developed for the process of speedy justice by facilitating data exchange between the courts, police, prosecution, jails and the forensic labs. In a first of its kind initiative in the country, all software applications are in a workflow that generates immediate, online and real-time data across domains through interlinking. CCTNS is integrated with the e-Courts and e-Prisons databases in the first instance and with the other pillars of the criminal justice system – forensics, prosecution, juvenile homes and a national fingerprint database repository. It is a web-enabled solution that will link all courts, police stations, forensic labs and prisons. Already rolled out in a number of states, it houses data that runs in multiples of crores on which a real-time inquiry can be run. 

2. Additionally, another project NIC-CERT has been launched that aims at infection detection on a real-basis and automatically escalates the problem for troubleshooting. India will soon launch Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) being done at a cost of over Rs 400 cr. It has seven major components including National Cyber Crime Threat Analysis Unit, Joint Cyber Crime Investigation, Cyber Crime reporting portal, National Cyber Research and so on. 

3. In a unique project, the Ministry of Home Affairs will leverage social media for behaviour detection and handling.  

In addition to the above, this year the focus of the SKOCH State of Policing, Law & Justice Study are the efforts of the frontline warriors and their response to the COVID19 pandemic. 

Our Approach is as Follows:

• Primary Research: SKOCH is known for its independent, primary research that includes field visits and interactions with stakeholders including citizens. Focus Group discussions are conducted to collect the citizen feedback, viewpoint and assessment of outcomes.
• Call for Nominations: Various institutions, central and state governments are being requested to document and nominate what they feel are best practices being implemented by them.
• Secondary Research: It is carried out by SKOCH editors to validate the information submitted by the implementing departments / agencies. It is contrasted with Primary Research for validation. At times, SKOCH editors also feedback the departments / agencies on documentation. 
• Participatory Discussion and Evaluation: These are then being discussed between peer groups and expert groups to be evaluated. An integral part of this would be to get states of different capacities, economies and challenges together to be able to exchange notes.
• Knowledge Sharing: The best evaluated interventions would be available as an online exhibition and case studies. There would be a series of Round table discussions and conferences around this.
• Collaborations: We are collaborating with think tanks and experts in this area in India and abroad to bring in a plurality of view as well for leveraging their experiences.
• Promoting Best Practices: The best practices would be showcased in social as well as mainline media. These could include features in mainline newspapers.