Meeting of Station House Officers with the Public In order to strengthen police-public relations, Station House Officers [SHO] must hold regular monthly meetings in areas falling under their jurisdiction. This will enable people to voice their grievances to the SHO. It will also give the police an opportunity to inform people about law and order issues and enlist their cooperation in maintaining peace and preventing crime. The Commission has advocated that senior officers should also take part in these meetings along-with Station House Officers. In a democratic nation, people’s participation in governance is of utmost importance. As a vital component of the governmental machinery, the police too, are under an obligation to take into account community aspirations and tailor policing to serve the community’s needs best. Transparency and openness in functioning are excellent ways to break barriers and engage in people-oriented policing. IV. Arrest Concerned with the large number of complaints about abuse of police powers, particularly in relation to arrest and detention, the National Human Rights Commission has drawn up a set of guidelines based on constitutional provisions, existing laws, Supreme Court decisions and National Police Commission recommendations. PRE-ARREST • The power to arrest without a warrant should be exercised only after a reasonable satisfaction is reached, after some investigation, as to the genuineness and bonafides of a complaint and a reasonable belief as to both the person's complicity as well as the need to effect arrest. [Joginder Kumar's case - (1994) 4 SCC 260] • Arrest cannot be justified merely on the uxistonce of power, as a matter of law, to arrest without a warrant in a cognizable case. • After Joginder Kumar's pronouncement of the Supreme Court the question whether the power of arrest has been exercised reasonably or not is clearly a justifiable one. • Arrest in cognizable cases may be considered justified in one or other of the following circumstances : 1. The Case involves a grave offence like murder, dacoity, robbery, rape etc. and it is necessary to arrest the suspect to prevent him from escaping or evading the process of law. 2. The suspect is given to violent behaviour and is likely to commit further offences. 88 Manual on Human Rights for Police Officers