Editorial: Protecting those who keep us safe from harm

Chennai

This week, a 47-year-old police inspector from Mambalam, succumbed to the coronavirus making it the state’s first police casualty .

Just last month, over 320 personnel attached to the Tamil Nadu police had tested positive for COVID-19. The negative impact of the pandemic on the mental health of ordinary citizens is all but obvious - as suicides involving patients have been reported from across the nation. The virus seems to have only raised the stakes for those involved in keeping the rest of us safe and secure. The highly taxing nature of work of law enforcement personnel has been called into question time and again.

Earlier in March, as many as six cops in Tamil Nadu had committed suicide within the span of a week. The statistics nationally are equally concerning – over 930 police personnel, including those assigned to the paramilitary forces, have taken their own lives in the last five years, former Union Minister of State for Home, Hansraj Ahir, had informed the Rajya Sabha in February 2019. The national capital bears a huge burden of this with at least 53 suicides reported among the Delhi policemen since 2015. Studies have pegged that 70 pc of the fatalities arose from depression and anxiety.

A look into the available data reveals a huge manpower shortage in the police department. As per a 2018 report, the police-population ratio, currently stands at 192 policemen per lakh population. But the UN recommends 222 policemen per lakh population. In 2018, the Madras High Court had directed the state government to address the grievances of lower-level police personnel and introduce reforms to improve their working conditions. Following this directive, the Tamil Nadu government sent a proposal to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) to study the reasons behind increasing police suicides and to train police personnel to cope with work-related stress.

Some basic steps could go a long way in helping the overworked police force. The priority is fill up the pending vacancies in the police force. A weekly day-off, something most professionals take for granted, is unheard of among police personnel posted on law and order duty. Similarly, work hours are not fixed, which leads to constricted family time and the onset of lifestyle disorders with increasing age. Also, unlike other government departments where employees have unions to discuss their problems, there exists no such collective for constables and staff of non-officer cadre. In the backdrop of the pandemic, it’s even more important that the police personnel of TN are offered a degree of protection, that we tend to take for granted. The need of the hour is to give the police the same kind of fixed work hours and weekly offs, as given to other government departments thereby ensuring the people assigned to protect us, are also taken care of.