An Exploratory Study of Confidence in Policing in India

Abstract

The November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai has brought a great deal of attention upon policing in India. In light of the proposed overhauls in policing in India, community policing initiatives have become increasingly utilized across the sub-continent. There remains, however, the important question as to how successful these initiatives can be in a country with such ethnic, class and religious diversity. The study undertaken here is an exploratory examination as to which variables are most closely associated with police confidence. The data for the study drew upon the India Human Development Study 2004-2005 of 41,554 households across India. The results of this study suggest that the variables most significantly associated with confidence in police (human/social capital, religion/caste) are best examined at the state level due to the degree of variance across states. Possible implications for community policing policies in India are also considered.