Police Suicides - Stress the main Killer

Every 40 seconds a life is lost through suicide (Worldwide as per WHO data), at least 15 suicides took place every hour in the country during last year, which saw over 1.31 lakh people ending their lives. When this alarming data is published by international and Indian agencies, policemen whom we think are strong and brave with a lot of mental and physical training are also falling prey to suicides.

The rate of police ending life is going up with many cases of police officers and policemen committing suicides all over India, for various known and unknown reasons.

Police profession is a great profession with power, dignity, authority, trust, moral and leading by example etc., but, many internal problems like bossism, humiliation, work pressures, confidentiality etc contribute to lot of work related stress adding to family issues and child development problems are leading to depression in turn suicide rates are shooting up in Police department.

This, in turn, is becoming a blot on the dignity of department, wrong signals of mental power of police department are sent to the public, some constructive development should be carried to stop suicides in Police department. When we look into the reasons for police suicides, the reasons are both work-related as well as personal life and family related issues.

Work related pressure, this is a real killer, as the police force are forced to work for extended hours beyond 8 hours reaching 12 to 14 hours, police forces have to work very hard during melas, festivals, political meeting, bandhs, emergency, unrest, crisis management etc. they are put under lot of pressure during these duty hours.

Security
When a policeman is on the duty of security of property or personal, they are put under a lot of pressure, with long hours of work and restlessness as part of alert of mind, which gives out a lot of pressure psychically and mentally.

Targets

It is an open secret that high officials put up targets for subordinate offices under various head like collecting fines, booking cases, and other unwanted collections, this was very evident from the recent Telangana SI suicide, in his suicide note, he alleged that he was put under pressure for collecting mamools.

Political pressures.

Few of political leaders put a lot of pressures on the police force to win their egos and authority, they make the police force to work very hard and make extract mile out of them with political power.

Gunmen

It has become a prestige symbol for political leaders to have Gunmen's even though they are in a safe constituency, where there is not threat to them, the duty of a Gunman is to protect the political leader, but many Gunmen are put to lot of pressure, political leaders use Government servants as their private secretaries to handle their diaries, Carry garlands, look after their children's picks and drops, and other household chores, this is making life miserable for these Policemen, as they work extended hours and this is off the records.

Traffic police

These policemen are prone to long-term standing in all types of environment, taking in all pollution added to their work pressures is paving ways to psychological and psychological stress and ailments.

Bossism

Every profession has internal politics and caste games, these biases are no different in the police department, which is leading to unbearable humiliation and consistent mental torture foster suicidal tendencies in policemen.

Working hours

The police force is made to work for 12-14 hours instead of an 8-hour shift. Large scale vacancies in the police force, accounting for around 24% in many states is one of the main reasons behind the long working hours of the police force.

Ambitions and Dreams

Ambitions of getting good postings and regular career advancement like promotions, posting, incentives etc. Failure to accomplish desired professional ambitions may act as a primary or major contributory reason for suicides.

Family life

"In many cases, it does not only work stress. Depression is also due to personal and family reasons. The tolerance level of personnel has also gone down," as they work far away from the family, they miss family life and they are put on duties during festivals and holidays, which makes them more depresses and lonely.

Functions and occasions

Most of the time, policemen are on duties on special days related to their life like wedding anniversary, children's birthdays etc. This really makes them annoyed, depressed and over stressed as they miss the occasions.

Expectations from Children

As a police person, every officer or policemen have a reputation in the society and they might have carved a niche for themselves , as of this they expect a lot of moral and educational advancements in their children too if it misfires, there are chances of depression.

Depression is the No 1 occupational disease of the 21st century says WHO. 49% of people under stress say they suffer from upset stomach or nausea. 71% people undress stress feel they are not productive and cry regularly.

Proper screening of individual police force at the police station level should be carried out to fix the tendency of suicide at an early stage and they should be given personal counselling and practice relaxing exercise and breathing exercise, with proper rest and relaxed work environment, Timely health checkups, gym and yoga classes should be started at police stations.

Special leaves should be granted for their special occasions like wedding days, children birthday, so, that they will not feel lonely and depressed.

Family life should be given top priority as well as that of their profession, a good family life and bonding with the good sexual relationship and romance with a partner will be a great stress buster.

Job rotation is an area which gives them a lot of scope for relaxation and above all, they should have planning, goal setting, time management, and teamwork with stress management tools like enjoying family life, nature, movie, break, a short vacation, breathing exercise and yoga will help them a lot. Laughing is a good healer, Children laugh about 300 times a day while adults laugh only 15 to 100 times, happiness is the secret of relieving stress.

Assistant superintendent of police K Sasi Kumar allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service revolver at his office-cum-residence in Paderu Jun 17,2016 2014 Maharashtra has had the highest number of recorded suicides by police personnel in the past year, according to latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau. The State recorded 40 cases of suicides by men in uniform in 2013, edging out Tamil Nadu (31) and West Bengal (29) to top the charts. Overall, 222 police suicides were reported from all States last year. August 08, 2016 A 41-year-old Delhi Police constable allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan at the disaster management control office in North-West Delhi's Prashant Vihar area, Jul 13, 2016 Deputy police superintendent, MK Ganapathy, in a lodge in Kodagu district on July 7

Telangana: Sub-inspector commits suicide, family alleges harassment by seniors the reason August 17, 2016

By A P J Vinu

The author is a Psychologist & International Corporate Trainer in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.