A couple of weeks ago, the CCTV footage of a traffic police inspector pushing down his subordinate constable from a running motorbike, grabbed the headlines. But what went unnoticed was that the police inspector’s actions, though he clearly overstepped his brief, was a result of extreme work burden the police personnel are under and the manpower shortage in the police force.The origin of the problem was the denial of leave for the constable to attend his mother’s 16th day final rites. Many police personnel Express spoke to said when even weekly offs are still a distant dream for them, leaves are always a struggle. In the absence of fixed working hours, they end up working for extended hours.
Extended working hours
A work day starts for the 47-year-old Sabapathy (name changed), an inspector of police in law and order wing, at 10 am. “But when my day ends, I will never know. Sometimes it is at 1 am, on some days 4 am or sometimes, it could be 7 am. But I have to report back to duty by 10 am or maximum 11 am the next day,” he said. On a typical working day, he has a range of tasks to do – from visiting courts for legal proceedings, producing witnesses in pending cases, listening to the complaints of the public, going on special duty to trace suspects in cases and in the midst of all this, comes bandobast duty during VIP visits or public events.
When it comes to personal things or family, Sabapathy says he always postpones it to the next day. “While the daily work routine itself is constant and would take up our full day, suddenly there would be a murder or accident or special meetings and we would be left with no time to even blink. When we finish all these, we will have night patrol duty that sometimes goes up to early morning,” says police inspector Kannan.
Kannan says he no longer complains about extended working hours and has gotten used to the system. But experts say the cost of a stressful workplace for the police, is in some ways, eventually borne by the common citizen. “It is necessary that the police personnel have proper peace of mind. They directly deal with people every day and they automatically would vent out their frustration towards the public and we blame the policemen for being rude,” says M Priyamvadha, Associate Professor at Department of Criminology, University of Madras.
The National Police Commissions, way back in 1980s, had recommended implementation of fixed eight-hour working day for police personnel. Tamil Nadu is one of the States that has not implemented the recommendation.
City trouble
The extended working hours always mean police personnel get very little time for personal things in their lives. Many say they hardly get quality time to spend with their families. “On most days, I rush back home to spend at least 30 minutes with my family. So far, I have never been able to attend any of my children’s sports day or annual day functions in school. My inability to spend time for family many times results in problems and I can’t carry that stress to the police station,” says a sub-inspector serving in Chennai.
Many police personnel Express spoke to said the work is often hectic when it comes to certain cities. Many personnel try to seek a transfer to districts that are predominantly rural. “I have served in different police stations in Chennai and other districts for more than 21 years. Cities like Madurai and Chennai have always been hectic. After sometime, I couldn’t manage as my health deteriorated and I shifted to outskirts,” said a police personnel attached to the Sathangadu police station in Tiruvallur district.
After an age of 40, requests for transfers seems to be something that every other police personnel has. “I applied for a transfer to a police station in Poonamallee many months ago, but still it is pending. Some of my colleagues have already shifted to the control room. We have become old and feeble and cannot run like we used to do when we were young, but no one understands that we are also humans. They send us for midnight patrols, and standing in the hot sun and heavy rains for hours ruin our health,” laments Velu, a personnel attached to traffic wing.Police being an armed force, discipline always means strict adherence to what the superior says. There is little room to even share the personal compulsions of the day with the superior officer. Even worse, leaves are at mercy of the superior officer, and never a right.
Vacancies
“We have about 34 police personnel in the station, and at least 12 among them work as drivers and guards. A few others will be posted on bandobast duties and others will be engaged in special teams to trace a suspect. Finally, there would be only two or three left to take care of the complaints that come to the police station every day,” said a police inspector serving in the heart of Chennai city, suggesting that the poor response the public get in police stations are due to such shortage of manpower.
A senior traffic officer says when there should be ideally eight sub-inspectors in his jurisdiction, there is presently only two. “One of them will be on patrol duty and another in office duty. I will be hard-pressed if there is an emergency,” he says. He says almost all personnel in Chennai end up working at least 12 hours.
A retired Director General of Police Express spoke to said like in every work place, police department too has both positives and negatives. “We should stop lamenting on the work load and the pressures. Rather, we should focus on allowing weekly offs and also compensation for personnel who put extra hours of work,” he says. Expediting recruitment and filling up vacancies is of utmost importance since he says physical presence of police personnel brings much confidence for the public in times of emergency.
Commissioner’s views
Focus on implementing eight-hour work shifts
When Express spoke to the Chennai city police commissioner A K Viswanathan, he said new recruitments are underway and would soon help in improving the availability of manpower. “More than 20,000 personnel will be joining the force in a few months as they are presently undergoing training. We have enough manpower and we are now focussing on implementing eight-hour work shift and a day off every week,” Viswanathan told Express. He said giving transfers to police personnel to police stations closer home would go a long way in helping the personnel. He said the recent campaign to install CCTV cameras across the city helps in saving manpower requirements.