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There were 17.2 million police officers across 36 states
and union territories, when there should have been 22.6 million,
according to the estimates of the ministry of home affairs. (File)
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hindustantimes
For the first time in its 154-year history, the Mumbai police have switched to a compact eight-hour duty schedule for certain ranks, police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar announced on Wednesday. Launched as an experiment at the Deonar Police station in 2016, the plan will now be extended to police stations across the city.
The police force in the country, often accused of inefficiency, rudeness and corruption, is overworked and understaffed. According to data journalism site IndiaSpend, India has among the lowest police-to-population ratios in the world. The country was short of more than half a million police officers on January 1, 2015, the latest date for which nationwide data is available, the Lok Sabha was told in July, 2016.
There were 17.2 million police officers across 36 states and Union Territories, when there should have been 22.6 million, according to the estimates of the ministry of home affairs.
A 2015 study, ‘National Requirement of Manpower for Eight-Hour Shift in Police Stations,’ carried out by the Bureau of Police Research and Development found that 90% of police officers worked for more than eight hours a day, and 73% didn’t get a weekly off even once a month. “Long and irregular work hours have negative impacts on efficient policing, since weary and overworked personnel can’t be expected to put in their best ...,” said the study. In recent months, police personnel in Mumbai faced a number of challenges owing to long duty hours including on-duty deaths, mental and physical illnesses . At times they were stationed in the field for 48 hours at a stretch, adding stress to their already fragile mental health.
For the first time in its 154-year history, the Mumbai police have switched to a compact eight-hour duty schedule for certain ranks, police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar announced on Wednesday. Launched as an experiment at the Deonar Police station in 2016, the plan will now be extended to police stations across the city.
The police force in the country, often accused of inefficiency, rudeness and corruption, is overworked and understaffed. According to data journalism site IndiaSpend, India has among the lowest police-to-population ratios in the world. The country was short of more than half a million police officers on January 1, 2015, the latest date for which nationwide data is available, the Lok Sabha was told in July, 2016.
There were 17.2 million police officers across 36 states and Union Territories, when there should have been 22.6 million, according to the estimates of the ministry of home affairs.
A 2015 study, ‘National Requirement of Manpower for Eight-Hour Shift in Police Stations,’ carried out by the Bureau of Police Research and Development found that 90% of police officers worked for more than eight hours a day, and 73% didn’t get a weekly off even once a month. “Long and irregular work hours have negative impacts on efficient policing, since weary and overworked personnel can’t be expected to put in their best ...,” said the study. In recent months, police personnel in Mumbai faced a number of challenges owing to long duty hours including on-duty deaths, mental and physical illnesses . At times they were stationed in the field for 48 hours at a stretch, adding stress to their already fragile mental health.
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