Sunday, April 21, 2013

Please read this once before you criticize the cops

Since the time when I was three and till recently I have known my dad working for over 10 hours a day and 7 days a week. He would have been on leave for not more than 15days a year in any of those 20yrs I’m talking about. Especially during times of unrest when most people would huddle themselves in the safety of their homes I have seen my mom worried about my dad who would be in the middle of all the trouble, handling it.

When my friends and neighbors are having fun enjoying festivals, me and my family would be waiting for my dad to come home. We would be praying that there shouldn't be any troubles in his jurisdiction so that he can spend at least a couple of hours celebrating the occasion with us.

I still remember the day in which he came home with blood strained clothes and multiple stitches on his hand. People who would happily take a week long sick leave won’t understand the pain of my dad who went to work the very next day else the already thinly spread and widely stretched colleagues would find it impossible to contain the situation. 

Police officials face every form of stress you would have read in a whole book on work related stress. They are not treated politely by anyone who they come in contact with be it their superiors, politicians, other government officials or the general public.

In cases of riots half a dozen police personal are sent to contain an angry mob of over a 100. What’s worse is that the mob would pelt stones, glass bottles and in some cases petrol bombs. The police is only equipped with lathis and sometimes they would fortunate enough to use their age old British era guns. Despite the limited equipment they are also limited by the usage or the amount of damage they could inflict.

One arrest of or a charge sheet on a powerful politician’s relative’s son’s friend could land the officials involved in a lot of trouble. You might be thinking that the general public is fearful of the law enforcement officials but in reality they are more afraid of executing their normal duties properly.

One police constable patrols a kilometer square of residential area armed only with his whistle and lathi. If a robbery happens in that locality the constable will be suspended for a month or more.

When there is a murder or suicide the police officials involved are expected to pay for the formalities out of their pockets. When there is broken equipment they are again supposed to mend it or pay for it all by themselves. Their travel and other clearly documentable expenses are reimbursed to the bare minimum.

For all this they are paid a pittance and are one of the lowly paid state government employees. Their health care insurances are not honored by any hospital for the payments against them from the respective government bodies would never arrive.

Police officials in our country have to live with nil self-respect and have to kill their conscience over and over again. Beyond this if they happen to once in a while behave like humans and succumb to their emotions please understand that they can’t completely become emotionless machines.

6 comments:

Padhu said...

How much ever effort one puts into doing something if there is even a minute slip-up only that is highlighted. Also, the problem is there are only so many people who complain very few people who know the realities come forward and create an awareness!!!This should change.

Charan said...

With all due respects and diligence to the points you've stated, here's my thoughts about your post.

I agree that your venting has a lot of open questions for the government to answer.

One thing that I do not understand is that why people who has to remain in a job / service / profession (however one could call a police work) that offers them NIL self-respect?

Kitty said...

@Charan

Because one has to survive. Despite everything the job is relatively secure and has a steady income.

Kitty said...

@Charan

My dad joined the force at the age of 19 when my grandfather died of lung cancer leaving the family's finances in red.

Others stories may not be as bad but yes survival pressure.

To cite another example one engineering graduate died of over exhaustion during a police recruitment drill. That's the state of the country with little scope for at least a lower middle class life.

Charan said...

Is this the only 'job' for a steady income or to take family finances out of the red?

Kitty said...

Poda lusu