Given an active civil society, powerful judiciary and an executive reluctant to part with power this can’t happen in India.
Besides police cannot be given such powers as it is only an organ of the executive and therefore has to stay submissive to the executive itself.
I assume you have asked the question from a good place, where Police acts as a friend and facilitator in daily civic life.
However, there are many limitations when it comes to providing unlimited power to any agency in a democracy. The very foundation of democracy is in its ability to check and balance the various actors involved.
Now coming directly to your question, there are some examples from history where such powers have been bestowed upon the police or a similar agency and experience has taught us that it never ends well. This is because the tendency to over utilize power is ingrained in humans and we have to understand that, however much movies would like to glorify the righteous cop, they are also merely human. Examples where men, just like you and me, given a whole lot of power, misusing it are the Dhammamahammatas during Asoka’s reign, kotwals in many of the regional states in the medieval period, the Gestappo in Nazi Germany, the Criminal Investigation Department during British India etc.
The most recent example where the police were given such powers would be the emergency where the atrocities the civilians had to suffer are numerous.
Often it is the common man who is capable of unimaginable violence when given the opportunity. Don’t believe me? Check out Stanford prison experiment.
What if we gave unlimited powers to the police? You are saying they should not act on directions from politicians. This, I believe is a mistake. It assumes that all politicians are scum or corrupt, which is a sweeping generalisation. The permanent bureaucracy (civil servants, police etc.) cannot be left to its whims and fancies but controlled by the people who bestow the power upon them. This is why we have given power to the politicians (temporary bureaucracy) to give directions to them. Just visualize the traffic cop who stops you and demands a bribe the next time you think cops are not corrupt. Now think of the same cop having unlimited power to act. I wouldn’t want to live in such a country. Would you?
Coming back to your intention, how can we ensure that these police men can act as friends and guides to the society? I suggest the following
- Training: Training should be a continuous process and given periodically.
- Paper Trail in directives: There is nothing wrong in a politician giving a directive to a police officer. It should be written instead of verbal ( Hon’ble SC has already made a directive regarding this)
- Civil Society and Police Enagement: Only this can curb people’s fear of the police.
- Localised civil service: I am not against an All India Service, however local elements in the police force has to be more so that police is much more aware of the regional sentiments, factors and elements at play.
- Change in Uniform: Khaki to many of us serves as a reminder of colonial era police which had a lot of unrestrained power. A change in uniform will affect a large change in mindset.
Hope I haven’t strayed too far.