# Status of Policing in India Report

The Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) is a series of comprehensive documents that assess the performance and impact of policing across various Indian states. It has been published annually since 2018. Each edition provides a detailed analysis of various aspects of policing in India, including performance, public perception, and operational challenges. These reports evaluate the conditions under which police operate and gather perceptions from both citizens and police personnel.
The SPIR is a collaborative effort primarily conducted by Common Cause (India) and Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) with contributions from other organizations like the Lal Family Foundation. Currently, Common Cause (India) is looking after the responsibility of publishing this report.

## Methodology

The State of Policing in India report follows a comprehensive methodology, which includes:
* Survey and data collection: Conducting face-to-face surveys across states involving trained surveyors and field investigators. Data is collected from both rural and urban setups.
* Objective data analysis: Official data from sources such as the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), and Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) are used.
* Indices and rankings: Indices are developed to measure state-wise performance on various parameters such as crime rate, police diversity, and infrastructure.
* Expert Consultation: Brainstorming sessions are held with experts, academicians, and retired police officers to refine the questionnaire and methodology.

### Parameters

The reports investigate and analyse 'the status of policing' in India at the following parameters; the citizens’ trust and satisfaction levels, discrimination against the vulnerable, police excesses, infrastructure, diversity in forces, state of prisons, working conditions, human resources and disposal of cases etc.

## SPIR 2018: A Study of Performance and Perceptions

The Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) 2018 is one of the first studies investigating police performance and its interaction with the public. It is a comprehensive and ground study of the performance and perception of the police in India. It includes 16000 respondents in 22 states on parameters like citizens’ trust and satisfaction levels, discrimination against the vulnerable, police excesses, infrastructure, diversity in forces, state of prisons disposal of cases, etc.
This report studied the performance and perceptions of the Indian police. Notably, it reveals that minorities, especially Muslims, fear the police more than Hindus, with 64% of Muslims expressing high or moderate fear. The report doesn't address the lynching of Muslims, likely because the survey was conducted before this issue escalated. This report reveals minorities in societies were most susceptible to being falsely implicated in cases of petty crimes, Maoism, and terrorism by the police.
The study adopted mixed methodologies. It also analyses data from official sources like National Crime Records Bureau/ BPR&D and CAG reports along with an all-India perception survey conducted by the Lokniti team of the CSDS and their partners in the states.

### Hashimpura verdict

On 31 October 2018, the Delhi High Court gave its verdict on Hashimpura massacre. In its verdict, the court cited the Status of Policing India Report 2018 and said that a community was being targeted for discrimination by the police. The court judgement, highlighted that the series of cases involved targeted killings of individuals belonging to a minority community, pointing towards the institutional bias within the law enforcement agents in the case.

## SPIR 2019: Police Adequacy and Working Conditions

The SPIR 2019 states that 50 percent of police personnel who have been surveyed feel that Muslims are likely to be "naturally prone" to committing crimes. On mob lynching, 35 percent of police personnel think that it is normal for the mob to punish the culprit in the case of cow slaughtering, and 43 percent the same for the rape accuser.
This report also reveals the working conditions of the police in India. The report records the police personnel's responses over the weekly off, and half the policemen said that they had not been getting any off days in a week. Necessities like clean toilets and drinking water are also not available properly in a large number of police stations. 25 percent of surveyed police personnel recorded that they worked overtime without any extra pay.
This report studied the sample survey of 11,834 police personnel across 105 locations in 21 States.

## SPIR 2020-21 Vol. II: Policing in the Covid-19 Pandemic

The study tracks down the nature of policing in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic-induced lockdowns brought police personnel into direct contact with the people in need of urgent help and assistance and modified, to a large extent, their primary role and the nature of duties performed by them during ‘normal’ times. Migrants, one of the most affected sections of society, had a terrible experience with the police. Confrontations between the police and residents have been reported during the nationwide lockdown. Layers of fear towards police during the pandemic were reported in the report. The police's instructions were also more likely to be perceived as threatening during this period. A majority of the migrant workers while returning to their hometowns feared that the police would beat them.

## SPIR 2023: Surveillance and the Question of Privacy

The SPIR 2023 focuses on Surveillance and the Question of Privacy. This report surveyed nearly 9,779 people across 12 Indian states and UTs. This report comes out with various aspects related to the question of privacy and surveillance in policing functions in India. The report records people's perceptions of three mass surveillance tools: CCTV cameras, drones and facial recognition techniques (FRT).
The report finds that three out of four people believe CCTVs can help monitor crime and can also play a role in reducing the crime rate. The poor, tribals, Dalits and Muslims trust the police the least. Half of the respondents (51%) said CCTVs were installed in their homes or colonies, with residential areas inhabited by higher income groups far more likely to have CCTV coverage than slums and poor regions. However, in contrast, slums or poor areas (31%) are three times more likely to have CCTV cameras installed by the government than high-income residential locations (9%). This is even though poor people are the least likely to support the installation of CCTVs in their residential or workspaces compared to all other income groups.