Dr.Arvind Verma is currently working with Indiana University with the department of Criminal Justice as an Associate Professor. We may call him to be the protagonist of democratic reforms within Indian Police. Himself an IPS officer of 1977 batch, In his articles on Indian Police he is found to be very critical of rampant corruption and apathy among IPS and hopes that it is time to reinvent IPS.
Dr.Arvind Verma, Associate Professor,Department of criminal Justice, Indiana University Bloomington,endorsing his good wishes for the campaign
Dr.Arvind Verma has remain very closely associated with Police Reforms with his critical views on the current state of reforms initiated with the intervention of apex court. Though himself an Indian Police Service officer of 1977 batch from Bihar cadre, he expresses in no uncertain terms “that the suave police leadership(read IPS Cadre), rather than ill mannered constables, could be responsible for the Police-Politician-Criminal nexus.
He feels “The crying need is for a large scale reform of the police and complete overhaul of the system. The present system was designed to subdue the people and serve the interest of British Raj. This system is not suitable for for democratic India where the requirement is for the police to serve the people and ensure their rights enshrined in the constitution“.
Regarding corruption among IPS he writes“Corruption within the IPS has existed since the beginning”, as this is the way the colonial rulers intended them to be. Regarding present state of police in India he writes “the police force is far from efficient; it is defective in training and organization; it is inadequately supervised; (and) it is generally regarded as corrupt and oppressive” .
He left police in India for teaching assignement at USA and continues with his research work. He writes on current issues that impede policing in India with some very good books to his credit.
On a brief visit to india, he very kindly consented to spare his time for interactions with members of Team Nishan on PRPP Campaign. We discussed with him about campaign strategy and the highlights of our interactions with frontline police officers and proactive particiaption of public. Dr.Arvind verma appreciated the value of victim survey and suggested the conduct of it in most unobtrusive manner for making a foothold.