BHUBANESWAR: In the wake of the daylight murder of minister Naba Kisore Das by ASI Gopal Krushna Das using his service gun, the Commissionerate police in Bhubaneswar is all set to assess the mental health condition of its personnel and withdraw firearms from those found not fit.
DCP Prateek Singh has asked the inspectors of all the police stations under the Bhubaneswar urban police district to undertake an exercise of mental health assessment of the personnel and ensure that arms and ammunition are withdrawn from the possession of those who are showing signs of unease or truculent behaviour.
“The DCP has asked the inspectors to ensure that the firearms are collected back from any personnel who is showing signs of being truculent or whose mental condition is not up to the mark,” said a senior police officer.
An inspector of a police station gives a recommendation letter to provide a gun and ammunition to a personnel and the application needs to be approved by the DCP. The applicant then receives the firearm from the armoury in the Reserve Police office here.
There are about 2,500 personnel in Bhubaneswar UPD and at least 170 of them are permanently armed. “Usually, the inspectors are aware of the behaviour of the personnel posted in the police stations. We have already launched an exercise to identify if there are any unfit personnel. If any personnel is found to be unfit, he/she will be asked to deposit their arms at the Reserve Police office,” said another police officer.
According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), to manage stress in police forces some preventive strategies should be implemented. The suggested measures include every police organisation should have a written policy on mental health management and carrying out a psychological assessment of stress and emotional intelligence at the recruitment stage.
Some other preventive measures suggested by BPRD are to acknowledge the existence of stress and mental health issues among the police personnel, activate redressal mechanisms and organise mental health sensitisation workshops, among others.
The BPRD had also advised the police organisations in the county to train supervisory officers like sub-inspectors and inspectors to regularly interact with their subordinates.