Policing in Northern India as a Different Kind of “Political Science” Interests and Interference in Investigations and Order Maintenance

• 영문명: Policing in Northern India as a Different Kind of “Political Science” Interests and Interference in Investigations and Order Maintenance
• 발행기관: 아시아경찰학회
• 저자명: Beatrice Jauregui
• 간행물 정보: 『아시아경찰학회 국제학술회의』The 2006 7th AAPS Annual Conference Proceeding, 301~320쪽, 전체 20쪽
• 주제분류: 사회과학 > 행정학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2006.09.30

영문 초록

  In many places―the U.S. and Canada, most European states, and many countries in Asia―police forces generally are able to enact the ideal of a rational scientific mode of investigation. The public servant is trained and resourced to conduct impartial and efficient collection and analysis of case evidence, with the latest technological advancements and time-honored powers of individual acumen and investigative experience. But what happens when "orders from above" direct skilled experts to fabricate or omit findings gleaned from forensic analysis? How are we to understand the sources and impacts of political pressure inserting itself into the investigative process, even from the very first response at a crime scene or site of public disorder? These are questions that afflict almost every police officer in India on a daily basis. Many districts are deprived of the most up-to-date forensic tools because of lack of funding from the government. But even in those places that are well-equipped, investigating officers must often conduct their work in a climate of harsh demands from above (i.e. directives from superiors and local government officials) and below (citizens who do not trust them to do their duty, or have means to evade their authority), which compel them to either ignore or invent case evidence, in order make investigations turn out in a certain way. And these pressures--captured by officers under the general term "political interference" in "police science"--not only affect a particular case at hand, but also shape how officers make decisions to do their duty in the future. Moreover, the political interference is often rationalized as an attempt to ensure that the police themselves are "not committed to a conviction," but are instead scientifically and efficiently investigating and presenting "only the facts." But these "facts" are often determined less by methodical means and more by ideological definitions of what being "scientific" even entails. This paper--based upon ongoing ethnographic research into the daily lives of police officers in northern India--examines such problems from the officers" perspectives, and interrogates what sort of police science is even possible, when meddling by interest groups comprise an accepted norm governing criminal investigations and daily maintenance of law and order.

목차

Abstract
Introduction
Beyond “Corruption” Charges: Cultural Obligations and Formalized Compulsions
Law and Order, UP: Coalition Politics, Communal Discrimination & the Transfer Industry
Conclusion: Downward Spirals of Police Image, Efficiency, and Morale
AppendixⅠ