Long hours taking toll on policemen’s health

Personnel say it is taxing to work while wearing bulletproof jacket all day

LAHORE: Despite orders from the IGP, neither are the eight hours of duty time being enforced for members of the police force nor are transport facilities being provided.

The Express Tribune spoke to officers deployed at various locations across the city and they all complain of 12 hour work days.

Head Constable Syed Ali says he had been directed by officers to reach Police Lines at 7am. “We are being deployed for 12 hours at different places for security duty between 8am and 8pm. It is extremely difficult to be on duty when wearing a 15-kilogramme bulletproof jacket and carrying a rifle all day long.”

Another head constable, Shahid Khan, reveals he had been ordered to reach in the evening for a night shift. He adds that since he doesn’t have any personal means of transport, he reaches work on time by metro bus, but gets free around 2am.

“In the middle of the night, I cannot afford to travel via private transport or cab service. That is why I have to stand on the road and request motorcyclists or motorists for a free ride.”

These are the main issues of thousands of policemen who face this stress every single day, leaving experts to speculate how members of the force can perform their duties effectively.

Lahore-based psychologist Dr Anum Fatima tells The Express Tribune that when a person is under constant stress at work, he begins to suffer from mental duress. “The person gets irritated, and in this case, a man can suffer from constant muscular pain.”

DIG Welfare Sharif Kamal says that there is an unprecedented shortage of policemen in the department. “Since 1970, the number of policemen hasn’t increased,” he adds.

According to the rules, one police officer should be deployed for the security of 450 citizens, but the proportion of the recruitment has not been increased in years with respect to the surging population. Therefore, according to the ratio, now a single policeman is responsible for providing security to 1,250 citizens, says Kamal. “The population of the city has increased from 6 million to over 10 million in the last 30 years, but the number of Lahore’s policemen has increased by only a few thousand.”

Kamal says Lahore Police currently consists of 30,000 personnel if the ones deployed on official protocol and security are also counted. As a result, the remaining 18,000 have to work to prevent all the crime in the city and arrest suspects as well.

He adds that the shortage of retired policemen and martyrs is being met, but no additional recruitment has been made.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2019.