Indian Social Science Journal ISSN - 2319 - 3468 Vol – 5 No – 2 (October – November 2016) www.igga.co.uk ISSJ | 53 POLICE – AN IMAGE AUDIT; PERCEPTION OF YOUTHS Dr. Janaki M C 1 Anil Kumar S 2 ABSTRACT Police in the simplest meaning protection of life in civil establishment, are very important sect to protect and to serve the society, police are the one who always tackles with the problems of public and provide justice to them. So, in such a condition it is very important to know the perception of the youths about the image of a police officer in their eyes. Hence, the present study is an attempt to study the perception of youths about the police. Keywords: Police, Image Audit, Perception, Behaviour INTRODUCTION Police are the executive officers and one of the important pillars of criminal justice system, police is empowered to enforce the law of the land under the legal framework prescribed to ensure the safety and security of the public and society in general. The term police are most commonly associated with state they are authorized to exercise the police duties and power of within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. In the administration of criminal justice the role of police is of primary importance. The criminal justice process gets succeeded and initiated through the police. Criminal justice institutions like Legislative, Police, Judicial and the Prisons were strongly influenced by public attitudes (Halsey & et. al., 2008; Roberts & et. al., 2007). Due to the policemen’s reactive nature of work, the police were first in the line of public image audit. An attitude is a term derived from the nautical world which means a psychological predisposition to evaluate someone or something in either a favorable or unfavorable (Eagly & et.al., 1993). Attitudes can be formed in several ways including personal experience, 1 Guest Lecturer, DOS iŶ CriŵiŶology aŶd ForeŶsic ScieŶce, Maharaja’s College, UŶiversity of Mysore, Mysore. 2 Guest Lecturer, Dept of CriŵiŶology aŶd ForeŶsic ScieŶce, Maharaja’s College, UŶiversity of Mysore, Mysore.