A Panel Discussion on "Tamilnadu Police - an Image Audit" was held on Saturday the 1st December 2001 at Hotel Palmgrove, Madras. (Background note circulated during the event)
|
In a democracy three institutions viz. Media, Judiciary and Police are the ultimate safeguards for the common people. It is necessary that these institutions perform their role effectively to bring confidence amongst the people. It is also required that these institutions audit their image periodically amongst the public and other stakeholders. This would help these institutions to ascertain as to how they are being perceived and to take necessary corrective measures. This concept of 'auditing the image' would apply to all the Organisations who are dealing directly with the people.
'Image Audit' is a tool by which the perception of various stakeholders is captured through random sampling. It may be noted that the outcome of this audit is only "perception" and need not be "reality". However such "Image Audit" will serve as a "forewarning" to the authorities of the concerned Institutions. If there is a gap between "perception" and "reality", corrective measures may be taken using the various "communication tools". If the perception and reality coincides, it should be a fillip to perform better.
For the purpose of this Panel Discussion, we conducted an "Image Audit" amongst randomly selected 175 respondents ranging from very senior Administrators to the roadside hawkers. The respondents were asked to give their perception, which is uppermost in their minds. The responses were analysed.
The Audit revealed the following:
These are all perceptions of cross section of sample and there may be variation between "reality" and "perception". Normally these perceptions also are subject to fluctuation. When the Police force catches a notorious criminal, suddenly due to media hype, perceptions may be more positive. On the other hand, if there is a "firing" by policemen in a crowd or a illicit liquor tragedy or a custodial death where few innocent people become victims, again due to media hype the perceptions may tilt towards negative side. Since the study was made last week when there was not much of an activity, we consider the above perceptions to be balanced.
An interesting factor in this Audit is that when we tried to get the response from the field level Policemen, their perceptions on these issues, they were tight lipped. Even the two or three responses that we got were of no consequence.
During this programme we will be addressing the issue of how the Police - Media - People partnership could be built for the best advantage of the society. In the course of the discussions, we will also be addressing the issues as to the role of people, media and the police in developing such partnership.
|
0 comments:
Post a Comment