Status of Policing in India Report 2019: Police Adequacy and Working Conditions

The average working hours of the personnel in all states except Nagaland is between 11 to 18 hours.

The police in India, as per the report, works at 77 per cent of its required capacity. Vacancies at senior ranks are greater than those at the constable ranks.

The report states that 70 police stations do not have wireless devices, 214 police stations have no telephones, and 24 police stations have access to neither wireless devices nor telephones. About 240   police stations do not have vehicles, the report states.

Two in every five police personnel report the use of bad language by senior officers. One out of four personnel also said that senior police personnel ask their juniors to do their household or personal jobs.

If salaries and perks remain same, 37 per cent of the personnel are willing to quit their jobs for other professions.

About 12 per cent of the interviewed personnel reported that there is no provision for drinking water in their police stations, 14 per cent said there is no provision for seating areas for the public and 18 per cent said there are no clean toilets in their stations.

As per the report, 46 per cent of the personnel faced unavailability of government vehicles when they needed it, and 41 per cent reported having been in situations where they could not reach a crime scene on time due to lack of staff.

According to 36 per cent of the civil police personnel, crime has increased in the last 2-3 years. Also, 28 per cent police personnel believe that pressure from politicians hamper crime investigations.

The report found that male personnel are more likely to be involved in field-based tasks such as investigation and patrolling. Women police personnel are more likely to be engaged in in-house tasks such as maintaining registers and data.

Absence of separate toilets for women at their police station was reported by one in every five female personnel. One in every four female police personnel also reported the absence of sexual harassment committee at their police station.

Around one in three personnel feel that religious minorities within the police force are not given completely equal treatment.

One in five upper caste police personnel believe that complaints under the Scheduled Caste and  Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 are false.

Three in five personnel believe that the number of crimes committed in the society are more than the number of crimes reported, the report states.

As high as 37 per cent of the personnel feel that for minor offences, rather than legal trials a small punishment should be handed out by the police. The report adds that one out of five police personnel feel that killing dangerous criminals is better than a legal trial.

Focus and Factoids by Ishita Banerjee.