BENGALURU: At a time when the Hampi gangrape and murder case has put the law and order situation in Karnataka in a bad light, statistics has revealed that 18,581 posts in the police department are vacant. Compared with the sanctioned strength of 1,11,330, the police force is being plagued by 16.69% staff crunch.
Not only this, the police-public ratio in Karnataka is 165.04 per 1 lakh population, which is very low compared to the national average of 196.88, as per the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
Currently, the sanctioned strength of the police force is 1,11,330, while the actual strength stands at 92,749. According to official data, 6,591 police constable positions and 819 head constable positions remain vacant.
Additionally, 2,107 Armed Police Constable (City Armed Reserve/District Armed Reserve) and 3,830 Reserve Police Constable (Karnataka State Reserve Police) positions are unfilled.
These details were given by Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar to a question raised by Shravanabelagola MLA Balakrishna CN during the Assembly session on Tuesday. On filling up these vacancies, Dr Parameshwara said that sanction has been issued to recruit 4,115 police personnel, including 600 sub-inspectors, and the recruitment notification for the same is yet to be issued.
A senior police officer said that the staff shortage leads to various challenges in maintaining law and order, ensuring public safety and it also means more work pressure on the existing staff.