Physical, mental checks a must for police ranks
Odisha Police’s move to launch an annual medical test for its rank and file is most welcome, though the awakening has come after the brutal murder of a minister by a serving assistant sub-inspector. It is nothing short of incredulous that there did not exist, in the first place, a periodic health check-up mechanism for a 60,000-strong force that deals with one of the most stressful jobs requiring physical fitness and mental well-being in equal measures.
According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) data, Odisha has approximately 147 police personnel in place for a population of one lakh towards the upkeep of law and order, crime control, investigation and other associated services that the force delivers, which is way too low compared to what some of the large states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and UP deploy. For civil police, the figure drops to a measly 71 per one lakh people. Given their work’s demanding nature and environment, the cops deserve better, and it is not difficult to understand why most grow unfit and develop fatigue as they age. Indeed, this is not a good sign. However, the daylight murder of Naba Kishore Das seems to have changed a few things. The state police are now working on a proposal to make annual health assessments of its personnel mandatory.
While it is a good call, more than a piecemeal approach is needed. It is only in the fitness of things to review the whole recruitment and service period system afresh. In the current structure, recruitment at various levels does not involve an aptitude test, nor does it seek psychological evaluation of the recruits—only physical fitness is part of the qualification matrix. Once deployed post-training, the police personnel barely go through any periodic evaluation, neither physical fitness nor mental health. Men in uniform have a fitness mandate for a specific reason, but at present, only the all-India service officers are entitled to an annual medical check-up at empanelled hospitals which mostly are corporate facilities. But for the rest, barring the armed police units, it simply does not exist.
The state police, therefore, must draw up a comprehensive plan that mandates as well as facilitates—from the bottom to the senior police levels—a compulsory physical fitness and mental health mechanism which would serve the force well and improve productivity.