Policy issue

Research on economic development has increasingly focused on the importance of good governance, both as a Rajasthan Police precondition for economic development and as a major factor directly affecting human welfare. Of all government functions, perhaps the most central is ensuring the safety of citizens with an effective police force. In order for police to function effectively, they must maintain law and order, which requires the trust and understanding of the public. Yet in many developing countries, the police are plagued with problems such as inefficiency, corruption, and an insular police culture, which hinders performance and creates negative public perceptions.

 

Context of the evaluation

The police force of Rajasthan is no exception, struggling to improve professionalism, transparency, and responsiveness. Survey results reveal that the public views the police as corrupt, lazy, and unfair. The self-perception of police was also found to be negative, as they themselves felt overworked, unappreciated, and victims of political manipulation. Although the Rajasthan Police attempted previous reforms to improve performance and morale, the results were never clear, partly due to the lack of quantitative outcome indicators and partly because the programs were administered selectively to police stations that tended to differ from the average.

 

 

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Details of the intervention

Recognizing these problems, the Rajasthan Police initiated an intervention with the researchers, which aimed to enhance police performance, improve public opinion, and gather objective information about crime rates and performance. In response to survey data that identified issues of concern, the police (with input from the researchers) designed four interventions, randomly implemented in 150 police stations in eleven districts across Rajasthan, with 25 of those stations serving as a comparison.

 

A significant amount of data was collected on the participating stations, on a relatively regular basis. To assess the possibility that the police stations participating in the program might change their responses or behavior simply because they are being observed by outside evaluators, an additional group of twelve stations, the “pure control,” was also randomly selected. These police stations were not informed of the project and were never visited until the final endline survey.

 

All treated stations received in-service training at the Rajasthan Police Academy Jaipur, which included classes to improve the competence level and scientific techniques of 292 investigating officers, and soft skills training for all personnel, including skills such as communication, mediation, stress management, motivation, and team building. All treatment stations also froze administrative transfers for one and a half years, since frequent transfers seemed to have adverse effects on personnel and their families.