Open problems · Police & public safety
Overworked police with no health checks
Police personnel work 14 hours a day on average, half get no weekly day off, and most say the workload is hurting their health.
Support0
DiscussionOpen for ideas, evidence and questions.
What we know
The Status of Policing in India Report 2019 (Common Cause and Lokniti-CSDS) surveyed about 12,000 police personnel in 21 states. They worked 14 hours a day on average, every second one got no weekly off, and 73% said the workload was affecting their physical and mental health.
Fitness is rarely checked after recruitment. Assam began yearly BMI tests in 2023: in the first round, 1,748 of 70,161 personnel had a BMI over 30. A study in one Karnataka district found 11% of police obese and 49% overweight.
Open questions
- Does your state's police test fitness or health after recruitment, and how often?
- How many police personnel in your state died of heart disease or other lifestyle illness while in service?
- What would shift-based policing cost your state, in extra posts?
No published comments yet.