Policy for policing

The recent announcement for recruitment of 1,176 constable posts into the state police will be a welcome news for thousands of youth in Nagaland. Currently, Nagaland police has a strength of around 25,400 personnel across armed battalions including district police forces, with 1,200–1,300 vacancies remaining even after the advertisement for 1176 posts. The police department has specified that only indigenous Naga tribes of the state are eligible to apply. Reacting to this exclusion of “non-Naga indigenous” recognised tribes of the state such as -Kacharis, Mikirs, Garos and Kukis- Rising People’s Party (RPP) has said this reflected poorly of the policy decisions of the state. NSF responded to maintain that except Naga tribes, there is no other indigenous tribe (s) in Nagaland. While stakeholders are busy debating who qualifies as “indigenous,” the state is losing sight of the actual crisis within its policing system. Nagaland does not merely need more recruits – it needs better policing. The state has 15 battalions of armed police(8 NAP and 7 IRB) besides a little over ten thousand uniformed district personnel, an unusually large number for its population. What the state lacks is not force but direction. Crime has become more complex, requiring expertise in cyber investigation, financial fraud detection, and digital surveillance. Yet, the government, for some reason, continues to treat police jobs as just another form of employment generation rather than as a critical arm of governance. By doing so, it reduces policing to a numbers game and not giving adequate importance on the urgent need for specialization and modernization. It is also a matter concern that independence of functioning and non-interference as still in want. It is the reason why many self-proclaimed authorities are masquerading as sleuths. A case in point is the recent alleged fake currency printing racket busted not by police but by some outfit. A glaring example of neglect is the long-promised forensic laboratory. The building has been constructed, space allocated, and funds earmarked – yet the laboratory remains non-functional. This failure is not just administrative negligence; it is symptomatic of a system hesitant to adapt to modern law enforcement needs. Without a functional forensic wing, the police remain crippled in their ability to investigate crimes scientifically, relying instead on outdated methods that often collapse under scrutiny. Meanwhile, justice delivery in Nagaland remains sluggish. Police investigations are frequently marred by inefficiency, poor training, and lack of accountability. Too often, the force appears to serve institutional or political interests rather than the people it is meant to protect. This is the real crisis – not whether a particular community qualifies for recruitment, but whether the system itself is capable of protecting citizens and upholding the rule of law. If the government is serious about police reform, it must abandon the comfort of rhetoric and face reality. Recruitment should prioritize quality over quantity, technological skills over brute force, and accountability over mere representation. The people deserve a police force that is modern, efficient, and people-centric. Nagaland has lived too long with a policing structure more concerned with survival than service. The time has come to move beyond semantics and focus on real reform. Anything less would be an injustice not just to one community, but to the entire state.