Cops seek work-life balance, too

Everytime terror strikes, Mumbai’s cops feel the heat. After Tuesday’s serial blasts in Jaipur, Mumbai has been put on high alert. By default, this means more work for the city’s already stressed police force. “Our long work hours have become even longer. We have been on the roads, checking vehicles,” complains a traffic constable posted near Elphinstone Bridge. 

Of course, the induction of 19,000 police personnel in Maharashtra’s police force in 2006 has been a big help. Of these, around 3,000 have joined the Mumbai team. “The additional workforce has given us much-needed respite and breathing space,” say policemen. But the cops know that explosions are not the only pressure triggers. Everytime Mumbai has a festival, weekly-offs and leave are cancelled at the lower rungs of the police force. Because law and order demand that every cop walks the streets, patrolling them. 

That police personnel are over-stressed, over-worked and largely underpaid is known. But, apart from occasional stress management and yoga workshops, not much is being done to address the causes, say psychiatrists. “We will see an alarming number
of policemen succumb to stress unless there are immediate structural changes in the police system,” warns Dr Harish Shetty, who conducts stress management workshops for Mumbai’s police.

A systemic change includes better living and working conditions, and a healthy work-life balance.Says Dr YA Matcheswalla, a psychiatrist with Nagpada police hospital: “Yes, yoga can help, but a multi-disciplinary approach is of the essence. Policemen need to have easy access to counsellors and psychiatrists. A good night’s rest and proper meals are a must. They must spend quality time with their family to enjoy a a healthy recreational life.”

Stress is redefining coprorate workplaces. Police stations are bound to follow.