A large group of the survey respondents believed that police officers need to change their behaviour and the way they interact with the community members to earn public trust and respect.  

Of the 281 participants from nine districts, 232 said police use harsh language and are unwilling to listen to what civilians had to say. Asked how they view the relationship between police and public, 47 percent of the respondents said just tolerable. There were no shortage of complaints regarding professionalism of police as well.

In Rasuwa, for instance, one of the respondents claimed that police officers patrolled the area in inebriated state. Another respondent in Surkhet complained of delayed response from the police whenever a crime is reported.

Hemanta Malla Thakuri, deputy inspector general (DIG) and chief of the research unit, said they also received complaints about police personnel asking for money for governmental works. He said the public still believes that the police provide refuge to smugglers and gangsters.

“These are serious remarks coming from the public. It is high time that we improved our image,” said DIG Malla. “This survey was first of its kind and it has indicated many rooms for improvement in our security force.”

Apart from the behavioural aspects, the survey also found that 53% respondents felt the condition of general security as just satisfactory and 1% felt that they were unsecured. Officials say this, too, should be taken into consideration as it is the duty of law enforcement agency to provide the sense of security in the community. The public trust deficit with the police is so much so that many people are hesitant to provide information about crimes lest they should land into trouble with the law enforcement agency by doing so.  

Despite the communication gap, a majority of the respondents (93 percent) claimed that it is important to improve relationship with the Nepal Police.

DIG Malla said ever since despite the widespread public grievances against police conduct, there had been no such institutional survey or assessments to understand what people think about police so far.  

He said the survey titled “Present Status of Relation between Police and Public 2014” was conducted in Rasuwa, Surkhet, Kavrepalanchowk, Kanchanpur, Kapilvastu, Morang, Dolpa, Kaski and Kathmandu Valley. The 281 respondents between 22 to 75 years age bracket comprised of students (55), farmers (30), business owners (45), political leaders (11), private company employees (29), government staff (75), NGO workers (6), media persons (7), daily wage workers (10), foreign employees (2) and incidental respondents (12). There were 54 female respondents.

Responding to the survey results, Govinda Thapa, a former assistant general of police, said that since police personnel are responsible for enforcing law and order, people often view them as someone different from the community, hence the lack of trust. He added that lack of behavioural training to the lower level staff like constables and head constables has also created the problem.

To better the relations between police and public, DIG Malla said they are preparing a training manual to provide behavioural training to all the staff.  According to him, in the first phase of the training, around 30 to 35 police officers representing various districts of the country will be trained and they will in turn train other personnel in their district or zones, respectively.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ganesh KC, also the spokesperson of Nepal Police, said they have been conducting public hearings in their bid to to improve relations with public and make its services accessible and transparent.

As per the hearing, envisioned by the police’s two-year strategic plan, police chiefs in 75 districts will address the concerns raised by the public. The public are made known about the hearing through various media. During the hearing, people can state their problems faced during the service delivery and about improvements to be done by police.

He said the public hearing has made people more comfortable to speak to police.

“We hope to conduct it every three months, where police will present the works they have done so far, while the public will state their view,” said SSP KC.