An Interview with a Police Officer

During my visit to India this summer, I had a great opportunity to meet IPS Rahul Prakash, Head of Police in Bharathpur, Rajasthan.

Sir, as he is called mostly, is from Indian Civil Services batch of 2006. In India, if you want to lead a police department for a district (i.e. town) or run the administration for a district, you need to first succeed at the competitive entrance tests called UPSC Civil Services. Out of approximately 350,000 candidates that appear for the test each year, only 200 candidates get a ranking that allows them a chance to become IAS (Indian Administrative Service), or IPS (Indian Police Service), or get a few other elite roles in the government. This is an acceptance rate of only 0.057%. Compare this with business school acceptance rate of 7% at Stanford University, 11% at Harvard University, and 13% at MIT. This service is pretty impressive, and sought after by the brightest people in India. Once selected through the entrance exams, they are trained, and then they work for the government to run the country!

It was a big deal and a privilege for me and my brother http://thebasketballchamp.wordpress.com/ to interview IPS Rahul Prakash. We did the interview together and took turns in asking the questions. Below are the excerpts from our interview:

Sir

goWritingGirl: Why did you want to be a police officer?

Sir: Medical service and Police Service are the only ways in which you can support any person immediately and provide instant relief. It is a very important service so I was interested.

 BChamp: How do you catch bad guys who are really armed, like they have guns?

 Sir: There is a law and a procedure for people who are doing the crime. We follow the procedure, and it’s a basic duty of the police to prevent crime and also detect crime.

 goWritingGirl: How do you find bad guys who are disguised, and in a big crowd?

 Sir: Generally Police works on a system of Human Informers who have some kind of connection with these bad guys. There are also some petty offenders like pick pockets, gamblers, etc. who are not doing hard core crime. Some of them are in touch with the police and we collect information from them that can be used to find criminals that disguised themselves after they did something bad or if they are planning a bad thing.

BChamp: What things are you called for? Robbery? What other things are he you called for?

Sir: We get called for everything! If there is a fault in electricity line, a wife-husband fight, a roadside disturbance, and such other things to things like robbery, and accidents. As a leader of police, I may send my team to handle situations, and also go myself as needed.   

goWritingGirl: What is the hardest part in your job?

Sir: The hardest is when there are no clues on a case, I and my teams have to look for hours just to find one fingerprint. At the same time, as we are working through clues, we have to maintain the law and keep people calm so they don’t start riots.

 BChamp: If the government wants to help your police, what would you ask for?

Sir: Every year, we send proposals to the government for what we need, and the government thinks about it. We would like the government to make quicker decisions.

goWritingGirl: If the public wants to help your police, what would you ask for?

Sir: I often go to meetings where the public brings in complains, and we fix it. I ask the public to stay vigilant and inform the police of suspicious situations.

BChamp: Can you tell us about your interesting chase?

Sir: There was a Dacoit who was causing tension in the town. As he fled his home, and escaped into the wilderness, I and my police team chased him for 2 days until he was cornered and killed in encounter. Everyone on my team was safe.

goWritingGirl: For kids who want to be police officers, what advice do you have for them?

Sir: If you are mentally fit, physically fit, have courage, self-confidence, interest in police, and particularly interest in crime detection, then only go for a career in Police service.

We: Thank you for your service to the country and for your time!

Sir: Thank you!

You can learn more about Sir on his Facebook page here.

Guess who is Sir here? The cool dude!