Remembering the heroic efforts, patriotism and devotion of the police personnel

By: Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
21st October is observed as Police Commemoration Day. It is a national holiday to pay tribute to the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. It is also a day to express gratitude to the officers and the families of those who continue to serve and protect us every day.”The Wall of Valour” – 30 feet tall granite sculpture stands at a police memorial with the names of over 35,000 martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty and reminds them of their valour and glory. This is day is observed as Martyr’s Day in all police forces of India
Since Independence, 34,832 Police personnel have sacrificed their lives for safeguarding the integrity of the nation and providing security to people of this country. Since Independence, 23,000 Indian Army soldiers have made supreme sacrifice. If we deeply go to the reality, with the increasing rate of crimes, today, the shortage of manpower has an impact both on crime prevention and detection. With the increasing rate of crimes, shortage of manpower will have an impact both on crime prevention and detection. Inspectors and SIs at the police station have little time to focus on all cases and investigation is usually confined to sensational cases or grave crimes.  From problems relating to police organisation, infrastructure and environment to obsolete weaponry and intelligence gathering techniques to shortage of manpower to corruption, police force in the country is not in a good shape.
There are Police personnel who are also complaining of stress due to over working. Deployment of police for traffic regulation and accident-prevention activities also takes a beating. There are occasion where most of the time Police personnel goes attending to day-to-day functions like VIP security, public agitations etc. For every Indian VIP, there are three police personnel. There are as many as 47,557 cops protecting 14,842 VIPs across the country which comes to a ratio of three is to one. The incidents of chain and bag snatching have also been reported frequently across the city. While residents and experts stress the need for increased patrolling, the question many ask if there are enough policemen to do the job. The shortage of staff often leads to delay in investigation and filing of charge-sheet in cognizable offences. There should be no compromise in the deployment of men for vehicle checks, night patrolling and traffic regulation. Unlike the Assembly elections where Central para military forces were roped in for security, the State police have to manage the local body polls with the available strength. With no major recruitment done in recent times and thousands of police personnel retiring each year, the vacancies are set to increase, making it difficult for police to manage the election along with routine duties. The increasingly sedentary lifestyle of younger generations, the increased occurrence of obesity, and the relatively low fitness level of so many people have also lead to a smaller group of potential police officer candidates. There is a huge manpower shortage in the police department. The police-population ratio, currently 192 policemen per lakh population, is less than what is recommended by UN i.e. 222 policemen per lakh. There is now a serious requirement for the execution of the proposed system as the city population is growing and a stronger police force is needed to tackle crime and L & O situations. It is also reported that more and more police personnel were being diagnosed for hypertension, diabetes and stress-related ailments in the annual health screening camps. The situation is more or less the same in many stations in the city where police personnel are forced to put in extra hours. Therefore, the State Government should recruit personnel on a war footing.
(The author is a Free-lance Journalist, Writer & Cartoonist)