90% cops work for more than 8 hrs a day

Nearly half of India’s police force claims that they are called to work 8-10 times in a month during their off period

New Delhi: According to a study by the Bureau of Police Research & Development, Government of India, 90% of the police personnel currently work for more than 8 hours a day. As much as 68% of officers report that their staff works for more than 11 hours a day and 28% report that the staff works for more than 14 hours a day. Nearly half of them report that they are called 8-10 times a month during their off period.

To move to a shift system, 68% addition to the current sanctioned strength is needed. India’s current police to population ratio is 145 personnel per one lakh population, much below the UN prescribed ratio of 222 personnel per one lakh population. The police are often in the news for wrong reasons. Highhanded, corrupt, rude are some of the things we associate with the police. They are also at the receiving end most often.

But it is also believed that policing is one of the most difficult careers and a recent study by Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD) & the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) reinforces this belief. The study throws light on long working hours of the force, man power requirements, etc.

The study was titled ‘National Requirement of Manpower for 8-Hour Shifts in Police Stations’ was sponsored by the BPRD. The study involved extensive field survey, including as many as 12,156 police station staff, 1003 SHOs and 962 supervisory police officers from 319 police districts in the country, spanning 23 states and two Union Territories. Some of the major findings are presented here.

The survey results indicate that nearly 90% of police station staff, across the states and across various police station types, presently works for more than 8 hours a day. Further, according to more than 68% of Station House Officers (SHOs) and over 76% of the supervisory officers, staff members of their police stations have to remain on duty for 11 hours or more per day. As much as 27.7% SHOs and 30.4% supervisory officers even reported that their staff worked for more than 14 hours a day.

As if this is not enough, 73.6% of police station staff indicated that they were not able to avail weekly offs even once a month. What makes the situation even worse is that most (over 80%) of the staff are commonly recalled to duty during their off time, to deal with emergencies of law and order, VIP bandobusts or other works. Nearly a half (46.7%) of staff reported that they were called in for duty, on an average, for 8-10 times in a month. A majority of SHOs also confirmed this trend.

According to the study, the following factors were identified as reasons warranting more than 8 hours of work. Most countries across the world follow the shift system with differences in the way they implement that system. Countries like Australia, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong also follow the shift system.

What could be done?

The study proposes shift system as an alternative model of working. Most of the respondents felt that shift system would be more conducive for the police and would also result in better work. But the problem in introducing a shift system is an acute lack of manpower. The extra requirement for introducing an efficacious shift system would be 1.68 times of the existing sanctioned strength of police stations. It means 68% addition to the current sanctioned strength.