Work stress harming our cops, policing

Almost half of Bengaluru’s police personnel are suffering from moderate to severe stress, a government-commissioned study, 'Stress Levels and Associated Diseases in Bangalore City Police Personnel', has found. Of the 605 personnel in 12 Bengaluru police divisions who were interviewed for the study, 15.5% were found to have a stress level of 44-50%, that is, moderate stress; 31.2% had a score exceeding 50%, signalling severe stress. The stress has been attributed to a variety of factors, including prolonged working hours, irregular food habits, inadequate remuneration and flawed promotion policies. These issues were found to be of “greater concern” to male police personnel than their female counterparts. Policemen were also more vulnerable to increase in cholesterol levels, obesity, gastritis, heart diseases and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) than policewomen. The study also found that unarmed cops are at higher risk of CVD; 57% of unarmed police were found to be at high risk of CVD compared to 6.8% of armed police. Being poorly equipped against violent criminals is clearly increasing the stress levels of cops, leaving them vulnerable to CVD.

The findings of the study do not come as a surprise. Stress is widespread among all wings of India’s security forces. Several studies have drawn attention to rising rates of suicide, even growing fragging, among the forces. The very nature of their work makes police and other security personnel prone to stress. Added to this is the understaffing of these forces. Since personnel are inadequate, police across ranks are expected to put in long hours of work and are denied vacations and even weekly offs. On the rare occasion they do take their weekly off, they are usually recalled for duty due to a law and order problem or other crisis.

Stress undermines the mental and physical health and well-being of an individual and has serious implications for one’s efficiency at work. This is true in all types of jobs but especially so in policing, which demands a high degree of alertness from personnel. Policing is a high-stress job at the best of times and expecting a stressed person to cope with such a job and perform well is asking for too much. Cops need to keep a cool head while dealing with unrest or road rage. They cannot make decisions or discharge their duties calmly when they are in a stressed frame of mind. It is imperative therefore that the government acts to tackle stress among cops. In addition to increasing the number of police personnel, filling vacancies, improving pay, perks and working conditions, they must be provided with counselling services. Freeing cops from political interference and meddling will go a long way in reducing their pressures at work.