Transfers cause mental agony, create mental health issues among police personnel

Umar Sharieef |NT

Bengaluru: The transfer orders of the police officials have been said to impact them mentally as it adds up to their already unanswered woes. While the transfer orders depend on various reasons, the time it comes after the new regime is formed comes as a big challenge to the police personnel.

“Every cop goes through mental agony like every other stressed human being. But it gets severe and becomes challenging when they are moved from one jurisdiction to another and serve under the politicians’ demands. It is a pain in the neck for cops as they have to live up to the expectations of the politicians and perform their duty simultaneously”, said ND Mulla, retired Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru.

The recent transfer order of 11 cops in Karnataka was kept in abeyance including the transfers of Inspectors from Bengaluru Rural and Urban, raising questions about the importance of their mental health. Mulla further said that he suspects that some of the transfers took place violating the norms and added it is impossible for mental health profiling among cops.

While constables, head constables are transferred within the city or district, the challenges they face in the new jurisdiction and with the senior officers make it worse for them, said another retired senior official.

“The lowrank officers, once transferred to the new police station, are most prone to fall victim to his or their superior and have to obey the orders whether it is right or wrong. Such things impact severely on the lowranked officers, especially among the youth officers”, the retired cop said. For Inspectors and above, they need to serve for five years in a jurisdiction before any transfers come their way, in Karnataka, Mulla said, adding they can come back to their previously served places.

“The transfer orders from the government keeping in consideration about the caste and communal problematic places also plays a huge role among the police personnel as the clashes and happenings at these places severely impact them in many ways”, he added.

The absence of a close relationship with family further adds fuel to the burning distress.

While it also raises the importance of mental health profiling for the cops, Mulla said it is not possible for various reasons, which also includes the lack of experts to treat a mass number of police personnel.