A work-life balance has long been established as an ideal. It has in fact been regarded as the panacea for stress and an impetus to the feeling of individual well-being. However, one segment this mantra eludes is the uniformed services. By design, the police, armed forces and paramilitary troops are regimental in nature. The training and service rules are skewed in favour of work with little room for personal life.
The state police forces often work in a complex environment. They have to walk the fine line of carrying out the strict orders of the superiors and having to bear in mind the local sensibilities. Contrary to popular perception, an unruly mass and protests are not outrightly met with force. A lot of restraint and constructive engagement precedes any use of force. Very often, the police brave grievous injuries.
The state police constitute the emergency service within the contours of the borders. Accidents, crime don’t come with a forewarning, hence making policing a 24/7 job. Not to forget the routine jobs. For instance, traffic management. The traffic police officer is present when we drive children to schools. They are still standing when we leave for office or what we call the peak hour. When I return from office they are still there. When people return home from their late-evening revelries, the traffic cop still stands tall and alert. And that leaves me pondering: “When do these superhumans go home?”
Such a high degree of alertness, long hours of work and tough working conditions invite a host of physiological and psychological hazards. But for the steel mettle that these women and men in khaki possess, it is humanly impossible to carry out duties under such high degrees of stress.
And what complicates it further is the politicisation of their work. The net result—all the sweat and blood that the force gives in the line of duty ends up getting discredited. The police forces are battling hard to fight the “unfriendly” image of the police, by introducing sensitisation and training to its force to adopt a citizen-friendly approach.
An equally important step of acknowledging the efforts of police needs to come from civil society. All it takes is an attitude of gratitude. There is a need to obliterate the mindset of “Us vs Them”. The police-civil society cooperation goes a long way in building a society of partnership and harmony.
Rohini D
Email: rohini.divakar@gmail.com