Evaluation of quality of police service: a study of Karnataka state

Abstract

The institution of police is a very important and significant arm of the state. It is responsible for maintaining healthy internal security in the country which is achieved through enforcement of criminal laws, maintenance of order and prevention and detection of offences. In India, police functions have direct or indirect bearing on all sections of society and all walks of life. The service provided by various police organizations thus assumes great significance. All efforts should be made to ensure that police service is of high quality. This study makes an attempt to assess the quality of service provided by Karnataka Police by collecting and analysing mailed responses received from a random sample of people who had recent contact with police in one capacity or the other. The SERVQUAL model was used with suitable modifications for this purpose. Service quality is evaluated by collecting information regarding expectations, perceptions (or experiences) and level of satisfaction of the sample respondents. Similar exercise was conducted to see how well Karnataka Police understand the expectations of the public. The results reveal that the quality of service provided by Karnataka Police was not all that bad and, in fact, in respect of tangibles its service has exceeded the expectations of the public. The satisfaction level too is just good with a little more than half of the public expressing satisfaction with the service experienced during their contact with Karnataka Police. The areas of concern are the service dimensions of reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy in that order. It is also found that Karnataka Police have a good understanding of people s expectations of the service to be provided by police. Based on the findings, certain specific and also general process-related and structural recommendations are made to improve quality of service provided by Karnataka Police. These include implementing measures targeting particular police units, demographic groups and sections of public engaging in certain types of contact, adopting IT solutions, better police personnel policies, development of Standard Operating Procedures for police functioning, periodical training programmes for police and establishment of Police Research Unit