Your front page report “Eight hours of duty- Is it feasible” (May 27) reveals the fact that while the city police have taken other initiatives to enhance safety and vigil, the shortage of manpower seems to be posing a huge challenge, according to officials in various stations across the city. With the increasing rate of crimes, shortage of manpower will have an impact both on crime prevention and detection. There are Police personnel who are also complaining of stress due to over working. Deployment of police for traffic regulation and accident-prevention activities also takes a beating. For every Indian VIP, there are three police personnel. There are as many as 47,557 cops protecting 14,842 VIPs across the country which comes to a ratio of three is to one. The incidents of chain and bag snatching have also been reported frequently across the city. While residents and experts stress the need for increased patrolling, the question many ask if there are enough policemen to do the job. There is now a serious requirement for the execution of the proposed system as the city population is growing and a stronger police force is needed to tackle crime and L & O situations. The situation is more or less the same in many stations in the city where police personnel are forced to work extra hours. Therefore, the State Government should recruit personnel on a war footing basis.
Vinod C. Dixit
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
