While cops and scribes may find themselves at loggerheads over a number of issues, the nature of their work is remarkably similar: stressful, demanding and dangerous. Add to that a no-holiday regimen that effectively curtails any active social life. However, while newspapers declare at least two or three ‘closed holidays’ for festivals such as Deepavali and the just-concluded Ayudha Puja every year, cops find no such relief in sight. For the police force in the city, ‘all work and no celebration’ has become a way of life. And they are not complaining.
Sources say that the 24x7 regimen has become stricter under the new police commissioner S George, with instructions to the khaki-clad that their cell phones must be switched on all the time. So, while daily crime-fighting means long hours of work and absence from home, the pressure peaks during festivals when they have to cope up with demands from two fronts: professional and domestic.
Says Assistant Commissioner of Police K N Murali, “During festivals, people are in a celebratory mood and flock to public places. That is when we have to be alert to prevent crimes.”
Hence, a holiday is out of question. “In fact, the entire strength of the city police – 12,000 – is mobilised and deployed at important places to prevent any untoward incident and to give people a sense of security,” the ACP points out.
Nasty situations crop up suddenly such as the assault on a senior advocate S Sundararaj by a group of drunken lawyers on the high-security Madras High Court premises on Ayuda Puja on Tuesday. A police team rushed to the court, rescued the lawyer and arrested two persons, says Murali.
Fire services personnel concur. “We have to be alert and be prepared for any emergency,” says D N Velayudhan Nair, divisional fire officer (north). Ask him whether his wife and children miss his absence during festivals, he shrugs it off, “It is part of the job. They have become accustomed to my absence.”
Officers like him have perfected the balancing act, learning to snatch some lean time to drop in at home to participate briefly in the prayer and festivities, partake the delicacies and rush back to duty.
The male officers give full credit to their better halves for keeping the celebrations going. Says ACP S Radhakrishnan, “It was my wife who brought up our two daughters. During festivals, she makes all the purchases.”
The women in khaki attribute their success to an understanding husband and in-laws. AWPS (Anna Nagar) Inspector Gowri says that being part of a joint family helps. “During festivals, everything is taken care of by my mother-in-law. So, I am able to concentrate on my work,” she says.
Still there are trying moments, like when her little son hugs her, asking her not to leave or a beloved passes away. “I was not granted leave to perform the ceremony following my mother’s death,” rues an inspector.
Hence, ‘adjustment’ has become the buzzword for cops in this scenario. They resort to juggling shifts and seeking permission from senior officers to fulfill their familial obligations. Leave is always the last and extreme option.