Experiment

When Rajasthan Police Called MIT for Help

Anuradha Nagaraj | 15 Apr, 2012

This unlikely collaboration was aimed at identifying reforms to improve police effectiveness

NEW DELHI ~ Can an institution be reformed from within? Looking for an answer to this question, the Rajasthan Police collaborated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to design and implement interventions to improve performance and public perception of the police in 162 police stations across 11 districts of the state. A study paper based on this exercise is co-authored by Abhijit V Baneerjee (MIT’s Dept of Economics), Raghabendra Chattopadhyay (IIM Calcutta), Esther Duflo (MIT), Daniel Keniston and Nina Singh (IGP, Rajasthan)

The objective of the project was to identify promising reforms from those proposed by various police commissions, attempt to implement them and evaluate their impact. The ‘unique randomised trials’ began in 2007, when Rajasthan ranked fourth out of 28 states in crimes serious enough to be investigated without a court order.

On a minimal budget outlay and with no changes in fundamental policing processes, four interventions were put in place: placing community observers in police stations, a freeze on transfers, in service training to update skills and duty rotation with a guaranteed weekly off.

The paper said that the police system, ‘despite its ancient code, is far from being completely resistant to change’. This in spite of the fact that only two of the four interventions were implemented successfully. The reforms were evaluated using data collected in two rounds of surveys, including police interviews, decoy visits to police stations and a public opinion and crime victimisation survey.

The results suggest that two interventions—freeze on transfers and training—helped improve police effectiveness and public image. Also, visits of decoy surveyors had a positive effect on police behaviour. “I am confident the results will stand police policy planners in good stead,” says Nina Singh.