BENGALURU: An online survey conducted by a senior IPS officer in Karnataka has revealed that a majority of the people who come in contact with police officials dislike them. Roopa D, IGP (Home Guards and Civil Defence) had posted a poll two days ago on her Twitter handle asking people, ‘How many of them had actually come in contact with police and what was their opinion of the police?’. As many as 11, 544 people participated in the poll. Of them, over 51% said they came in contact with the police but had negative opinion about them. This was followed by 28% who came to contact with the police, but had positive image. Comparatively, over 12% said they had never come in contact with the police but still had a negative opinion, while 9% had a positive opinion.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Roopa said normally, police officials assume that public perception about them is negative even though they hardly come in contact with the public. “According to my research and understanding, majority of the people who replied to my post said they came in contact with police and had a negative impression. It’s time for police officials to rethink and change,’’ she said.
According to Roopa, after conducting seminars, most police officials were of the opinion that the public have a negative impression of them because of media reports and cinema. “But it looks like this is not true as people who has contacted police have got a negative impression,” she said.
Roopa further said that there should be a permanent cell in the police department to monitor public friendliness of police.A senior retired police officer said it does not require a survey to know the public image of police. “I have more than 35 years experience in police department and I know that our image is not good. There are several reasons including the poor facilities given to the police. Despite Supreme Court directions, there is not enough police reforms done by state and central governments,” he said.