Economics of Crime | Shri Abhayanand | TEDxSIBMBengaluru
Summary
TLDRA veteran police chief from Bihar, with 37 years of experience, shares his insights on the economic nature of crime and the generation of black money. He conducted an experiment to shift policing focus from catching criminals to tracing and preventing the laundering of illicit wealth. Collaborating with the Enforcement Directorate, they targeted property confiscation of criminal gangs, leading to visible results and a psychological impact on offenders. The chief advocates for a paradigm shift in police mission statements to include detection of black money and prevention of money laundering, aiming for a safer society.
Takeaways
- 👮♂️ The speaker has nearly four decades of experience in policing, with a significant portion of that time spent as the chief of police in Bihar, India.
- 🔍 The speaker's extensive experience has led to the belief that most crimes are essentially economic activities, leading to the generation of black money.
- 🤔 A heinous crime in Bihar, where property was looted, prompted the speaker to question the whereabouts of the unrecovered property, linking it to ill-gotten wealth in society.
- 🔗 The speaker suggests a connection between crime and the creation of a 'parallel state' funded by black money, which grows at the expense of the legitimate state.
- 🚔 Traditional policing focuses on apprehending criminals rather than tracking the economic trail of black money, which the speaker believes is a shortcoming.
- 🔄 The speaker's experiment aimed to shift the focus of policing from individuals to the economic assets and properties involved in crime, to disrupt the cycle of crime and wealth accumulation.
- 📊 A schematic diagram was used to illustrate the concept of a 'parallel state' created by criminals, which is larger and more powerful than the legitimate state due to economic leaks.
- 🏛️ The speaker faced legal challenges in conducting the experiment due to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act not providing a role for the police, forcing them to act as a catalyst to other enforcement agencies.
- 🏢 The experiment involved data collection, documentation, and collaboration with the Enforcement Directorate to target criminal gangs and their assets in Bihar.
- 📉 The confiscation of illegally obtained properties had a tangible impact on criminals, shocking them and potentially disrupting their operations.
- 🌟 The speaker concludes by advocating for a change in the police mission statement to focus on detecting black money and preventing its laundering, to make society a more livable place.
Q & A
What is the speaker's background in policing?
-The speaker has 37 years of experience in policing, including three years as the chief of police in the state of Bihar.
What does the speaker believe is the root cause of the crimes they have encountered?
-The speaker believes that the crimes they have encountered are essentially economic activities.
Why was the speaker unsatisfied with the outcome of a dacoity case in Bihar?
-The speaker was unsatisfied because they could not recover most of the looted property, which led them to question where the rest of the property had gone.
What connection did the speaker make between unrecovered property and wealth in society?
-The speaker linked unrecovered property to the ill-gotten wealth they observed in society, suggesting that crimes generate black money.
What was the speaker's innovative approach to policing during their tenure as chief?
-The speaker aimed to shift the focus of policing from persons (criminals) to properties and assets, to address the economic aspect of crimes.
What was the main challenge the speaker faced in implementing their ideas?
-The main challenge was the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which did not provide a role for the police in tracking the trail of black money.
How did the speaker's experiment with the Enforcement Directorate work?
-The Bihar police gathered data and documents, then proposed formal actions to the Enforcement Directorate against various criminal gangs, leading to confiscation orders of illegally obtained properties.
What was the impact of the confiscation orders on the criminals?
-The criminals were stunned and shocked by the police's response, as they had not expected such actions from any police force.
What is the speaker's suggestion for a change in the mission statement of the police?
-The speaker suggests changing the mission statement from 'prevention and detection of crime' to 'detection of black money and preventing the laundering era'.
What is the ultimate goal the speaker envisions for society through their policing approach?
-The speaker hopes that by focusing on the economic aspects of crime and tackling black money, society will become a more livable place.
Outlines
👮♂️ Policing and the Economics of Crime
The speaker, a retired police chief with 37 years of experience, shares his insights on the economic nature of crime. He recounts a dacoity incident in Bihar where property was looted, and despite the criminals being caught, the majority of the looted property was never recovered. This led him to ponder the fate of the missing property and its connection to the wealth he observed in society. He hypothesized that crime generates black money, which is then laundered into legitimate wealth, creating a 'parallel state' that undermines the actual state's economy. The speaker's dissatisfaction with the traditional focus of policing on catching criminals rather than tracking the economic trail of crime led him to experiment with a new approach during his tenure as police chief.
💼 The Parallel State and Money Laundering
The speaker discusses the concept of a 'parallel state' created by criminals who have transitioned from illegal activities to legitimate businesses, causing significant economic leaks. He uses a schematic diagram to illustrate how this parallel state, fueled by crime and money laundering, becomes larger than the actual state, suggesting that it thrives at the state's expense. The speaker questions whether the police, in their efforts to protect the state, are inadvertently protecting this parallel state. He explains that the power of criminals lies not in their person but in their assets and properties. He faced a legal challenge in his experiment due to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act not assigning a role to the police, forcing him to act as a catalyst to the Enforcement Directorate. The Bihar police, in collaboration with the Enforcement Directorate, targeted various criminal gangs, leading to the confiscation of illegally acquired properties and a visible impact on the criminal psyche.
🛡️ Changing the Policing Paradigm
The speaker reflects on the success of the confiscation orders and the positive media coverage and public appreciation they received. However, he emphasizes that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act still does not provide a role for the police, limiting their function to催化作用. He argues that crime is fundamentally an economic activity and that policing methods must evolve to focus on detecting black money and preventing its laundering. The speaker concludes by advocating for a change in the police's mission statement to reflect this new focus, suggesting that such a shift could make society a more livable place.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Economics of Crime
💡Black Money
💡Money Laundering
💡Prevention of Money Laundering Act
💡Parallel State
💡Social Laundering
💡Enforcement Directorate
💡Confiscation Orders
💡Criminal Assets
💡Illegitimate Wealth
💡Law Enforcement
Highlights
37 years of policing experience, including 3 years as chief in Bihar, shaped the speaker's perspective on crime.
Crimes are viewed as economic activities, leading to the generation of black money.
A heinous incident of dacoity in Bihar led to the recovery of only a small part of the looted property, raising questions about the rest.
The speaker's dissatisfaction with the incomplete recovery of looted property led to a deeper investigation into the economic aspects of crime.
The link between unrecovered property and ill-gotten wealth in society was a recurring question for the speaker.
The realization that crime leads to black money and the need for a shift in policing focus from persons to properties.
The concept of a 'parallel state' created by criminals, which grows at the cost of the actual state.
The police's role in protecting the parallel state and the ethical dilemmas it poses.
The experiment to shift policing focus from catching criminals to tracking and preventing the laundering of black money.
The use of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as a legal framework for the experiment, despite its limitations for police involvement.
Collaboration between the Bihar police and the Enforcement Directorate to target criminal gangs and their assets.
The impact of confiscation orders on the properties of criminals and the shock it caused among them.
Media and public appreciation of the new approach to tackling crime and its economic roots.
The need for a change in the police's mission statement to reflect the focus on detecting black money and preventing its laundering.
The vision of a society where the economic impact of crime is addressed, making it a more livable place.
Transcripts
37 years in police with three years as
the chief of the police force in a very
difficult state of Bihar in all roughly
about four decades of my policing
experience and what do you think
gentlemen this has taught me all the
crimes that we see around us that we
hear about that we read from the news
media are essentially economic
activities that's how we come to
economics of
you
into thinking along these lines relates
to a town in Bihar a small town a
heinous incident of dacoity had taken
place apart from the wanton violence
that was committed by the criminals a
lot of property was also looted away we
detected the crime
we nabbed the criminals
we were also able to recover a very
insignificant part of the looted
property my seniors and my subordinates
both appeared to be very satisfied with
the entire outcome not me I was less
than satisfied because I felt unsettled
where had the rest of the property which
we could not recover gone incidents
after incidents like this kept taking
place and the same question kept coming
back to me with regular nagging thing
like it was it nagged me very regularly
I was somehow able to link the
unrecovered property to the ill-gotten
wealth that I saw around me in the
society I was not able to identify the
two of them completely because the shape
and form of the two properties were
entirely different but the feeling
within me that crimes little rotten
wealth had sunk in by them as years
rolled by my thoughts began to
crystallize my ideas became clear I was
more than convinced that crimes lead to
black money they generate black money in
fact but policing focuses on the people
that is the persons who commit the crime
there are criminals
you call them it is true that Police
Department was neither designed nor
trained to track the trail of black
money which is created in the wake of
the series of crimes that get committed
it is prepared and designed and trained
to nab criminals and as we call in our
parlance bring them to justice
this desire within me to shift the focus
of policing from person to property
burned for very long years till I got an
opportunity to put my ideas through an
experiment into practice this experiment
and the conceptual part of it was formed
in a way that I had only about three
three years when I took over as a police
chief to complete the experiment the
three years that I had odd is definitely
long enough is not long enough for
stable conclusions to be drawn as the
outcome of the experiment but it's
definitely a long enough period for
conclusions to be drawn about the
possible solutions to the problem of
proliferating crime the theoretical
concept on which this experiment was
based comes onto your screen now you
will notice this is a schematic diagram
where you have leaks on both sides of
the state the revenue as well as the
expenditure these leaks are caused by
the criminals who have graduated from
the yellow-colored domain of crime to
the white colored ones and the leaks of
late have become so huge that a
monstrous peril
State has been created you will see from
the diagram that the parallel state is
bigger in size than this state so
apparently it appears that a parallel
state grows at the cost of the state
which is true and therefore the natural
question that arises is that the police
protect the parallel state in the name
of the state are we doing that and this
is a question which I kept asking myself
all through my career the final outcome
of this entire process which has been
depicted very schematically and which
are seeing on your screen suggests that
at the end of the whole thing we create
white laundered assets of criminals
while this money laundering is going on
the black money is getting converted
into white there is also a parallel
process which I call social laundering
which is simultaneously taking place a
class of people who are both powerful
economically as well as socially is
created and they are very powerful
people in fact they are so powerful that
even the most honest policeman with the
best of intentions is not able to take
them on it is therefore very easy to see
why the power of criminals and the
potential to commit crimes
does not lie in his person instead it
lies in his assets and his properties
when I was contemplating the design of
my experiment I came across another
problem which was neither social nor
economic it was legal instead I had
decided that the laboratory in which I
will devise my experiment and conduct
it will be the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act
unfortunately the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act does not provide the
police with any role to play whatsoever
I had therefore no option but to act
only as a catalyst to the Enforcement
Directorate which was the agency which
was created under the TAC not the police
to execute everything that was given in
the act the template of my experiment
was ready and my experiment was on the
Bihar police gathered data relevant ones
collected all the documents to back up
the data and then made very formal
proposals to the Enforcement Directorate
to initiate action against all use and
all colours of gangs which are operating
across the board in the state of Bihar
just to illustrate my point
the gangs included Gant's which indulge
in kidnapping for ransom these are the
gangs which defamed Bihar sometime back
there were gangs of bootleggers who
would cause periodical crisis the huge
tragedies there were gangs which
indulged in flesh trade this is an
offence which I have always maintained
as a policeman is a silent killer in
society the police and the Enforcement
Directorate worked in tandem and in
complete unison there was just no
difference between the intentions of the
Bihar police and the enforcement
directorate that is why very soon
confiscation orders of properties which
were illegally gotten wealth which were
laundered by tacit
of the gangsters we're passed by the
competent authority in the Enforcement
Directorate results had started coming
in the results were also seen on the
ground because the confiscation orders
of the properties that I have just
talked about
we're implemented on the ground results
were visible and the impact on the
psyche of the criminals was palpable
they were stunned they were they were
shocked because they had never expected
this response from any police force
bahar was perhaps the first police force
to have experimented with this idea in
this form the media also started
becoming curious about the whole process
they had not perhaps seen it before and
therefore they started observing the
entire process and the outcome of the
process they started writing positively
about it
the Weizmann in the state were also very
appreciative about the process because
they started feeling that this was
having an impact at the root of the
problem and this was a concept which was
getting into the people who we call
usually intellectuals in the society
things were going on extremely well but
there was one problem still which
remained and we had started off with
this problem the problem still remains
the problem is the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act as yet does not offer any
role to the police to play therefore the
police does not have any option but to
act as a catalyst in this process
the experiment that I have just
described
paradigms in crime keep changing with
time
but there is one constancy in all these
changes the concept that crime is
essentially an economic activity and if
crime has to be tackled then this
paradigm has to be kept in mind and
factored in the methodology of policing
will have to change it is time therefore
and it is high time therefore that the
mission statement of the police gets
changed or at least modified from
prevention and detection of crime to
detection of black money and preventing
the laundering era my contention is that
if this process is carried on then
society will become a livable place to
be in hoping for such a tomorrow thank
you very much
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