Vadakara: Despite the implementation of counselling sessions and various programs, the suicides continue to persist as a significant problem within the Kerala Police. A report submitted to the Director General of Police in 2021 by two Inspector Generals pinpoints job-related stress and insufficient rest periods as the primary factors contributing to the prevalence of suicides within the force.
Based on the report, the DIG ordered providing counselling and awareness classes to the cops. Despite these measures, the recent suicide of an officer at Kozhikode’s Kuttiady Police Station demonstrates that mental stress and depression remain a persistent problem in the force.
So far in October, three cops have killed themselves. The chief minister revealed in the Assembly that 51 cops killed themselves between 2015 and 2019. Since 2019, around 25 cops have taken their own lives.
For the past several decades, the police department has adopted various initiatives to address the mental stress issues in the force, including programmes on yoga, counselling and music therapy. However, the suicide cases show that such interventions have failed to achieve their stated goal.
Furthermore, in some circumstances, the programmes became a burden for cops already overwhelmed by work during duty time. For example, cops who regularly report for duty at 8 a.m. had to appear at the station at 7am because of the Yoga programme implemented to deal with work stress.
According to cops, the stress is due to the expectation of delivering multiple tasks at the same time. A cop is tasked to maintain peace and order, register cases, launch investigations, patrol, and do other duties. However, due to severe staff shortages, the cops often had to jump between various tasks on hand. For instance, a person tasked to register and investigate a case will have to go to maintain law and order, provide security to public events or perform patrol duties. As a result, the cops will have little time to finish the investigation and write it up. Instead of the 8-hour duty, the cops often have to work for 12-15 hours.
Meanwhile, by the end of the month, senior officials will be breathing down the cops’ necks in order to wrap up the investigations. Amidst all this, cops will have pressure from seniors in the department. The cops and police associations have been demanding that law and order and investigations should be treated separately while assigning duties.
