OVERBURDENED ODISHA POLICE
By;Pallishree Dash,Odishabarta
Bhubaneswar:Police is the function of that branch of the administrative machinery of government which is charged with the preservation of public order and tranquility, the promotion of the public health, safety, and morals, and the prevention, detection, and punishment of crimes. Most police officers feel proud for their contribution for society; it’s a kind of rewarding job. But this is true that this service mentally taxing as well. With every case comes the possibility of witnessing something that can be disturbing. Incidences of child abuse, suicide, domestic violence, officer-involved shootings, handle law & order, dealing with criminals and more can be a regular part of the job. Police organizations work 24/7. Officers deal with volatile conditions, unpleasant situations, difficult circumstances, long duty hours, and heavy workload.
In Odisha:
A Bureau of Police Research and Development’s (BPR&D) 2019 data on police-population ratio says Odisha has 67 cops to man one lakh population. Note that the United Nations recommended standard is 222 police per lakh persons. As a result, the average police officer ends up with a massive burden and extended working hours (In a newspaper, It was published that in an average, Odisha police is working 18 hours a day ), without not taking a day off in week. Due to overworked, about 80% women police stayed back at Police station after duty hours.
Therefore This hurts his or her efficiency and performance (the Law Commission and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission have noted that state police officers often neglect this responsibility because they are understaffed and overburdened with various kinds of tasks) Understaffing leads to overburdening of work, which not only reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of police officers (leading to poor investigation quality) but also causes health problems (Hypertension, Cancer, reduce immune function, injury etc.) and psychological distress due to lack of sleep causes depression, anxiety, irritation & frustration etc. In recent year, various studies have shown that Police officers report higher rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), more police officers die by suicide than in the line of duty, Productivity is negatively affected by poor mental health, most law enforcement officers do not seek care for mental health issues due to The stigmatization of mental health is a major factor that prevents police officers from getting help. Police officials cannot maintain their work-life balance, about 90% police officers unable to spend time with their family.
In police stations, all rank of police officer i.e. The IICs, SIs and ASIs have some cases under their investigation process to solve besides carrying out law & order. The overall vacancies stood at 16.9%, the rate of vacancies in the rank of Sub-Inspector (SI) and Inspector is 39% and 23% respectively. SIs and Inspectors are considered the backbones of police stations as they do bulk of the crime investigations. Against sanctioned strength of 3399 SIs , only 2072 SIs are present now in the State and from 1077 inspector , 829 is present. If the population is increasing by 2 percent yearly, the policing budget and workforce need to increase correspondingly, this sadly has never happened.
