Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is facing a shortfall of over 15,000 police personnel, said Inspector General (IG) Harshita Attaluri in a recent report submitted to the state home ministry. The report recommends hiring an additional 400 to 1,300 officers in each ‘police district’ to address this issue.
To help reduce mental stress and workload for police officers, the report suggests limiting their working schedule to eight hours a day. This comes amid rising concerns about suicides within the force due to job pressure.
Currently, there are 21,842 police officers working across 482 stations in Kerala, but the report indicates an overall shortfall of 15,075 personnel. It notes that there is no need to increase the number of Deputy Superintendents of Police (DySPs). Instead, the report recommends adding five inspectors, 580 sub-inspectors, 1,819 assistant sub-inspectors and 6,195 senior civil police officers. These suggestions were based on the number of cases registered in each station, the population strength in each division and the specific needs of different regions.
Attaluri recommends that a busy police station should ideally have 130 officers, while less active stations should maintain around 55 officers.
Thus the Ernakulam central police station requires a staffing level of 177 officers to operate effectively. The police districts facing the worst shortage are Thiruvananthapuram Rural, Malappuram, Palakkad, Ernakulam Rural and Kottayam.
The report concludes that while the current vacancies should not be filled immediately, these recommendations should be implemented within two years to improve the efficiency and well-being of the Kerala police force.
