Tamil Nadu has most cop suicides as job stress takes toll

On Wednesday, sub-inspector R Sathish Kumar, attached to the Aynavaram police station, shot himself in the head with his service revolver in front of his colleagues. While the police department refused to speculate why the officer committed suicide, his family alleged that work-related stress forced him to end his life. Sathish’s death was the second such case in Chennai within a week and according to records released by the ministry of home affairs, the state has the highest number of police personnel committing suicide across the country.
According to the report published in August 2016, 166 police personnel ended their lives in Tamil Nadu in 2016 followed by 161 in Maharashtra and 61 in Kerala. The report said police personnel committed suicide due to personal problems, mental illness and work-related stress.

In 2015, a study involving 1,489 police personnel by the Board of Police Research & Development found high level of suicidal thoughts among lower-rung police officers due to stress. Among sub-inspectors, nearly 16% have high level of suicidal ideas and 14% had moderate suicide ideation.

A retired director general of police said earlier the department had informal grievance meetings after the weekly parade which were very effective. Of late, the centralised grievance redressal meetings are conducted as formality, he said.

Unable to cope, some police personnel resort to alcohol and drugs for temporary relief, said a psychiatrist who is a part of the government’s District Mental Health Programme. “Alongside them, their family members also suffer a lot as they tend to take out their stress on them,” the psychiatrist said.

Lower-ranked officials are more depressed compared to the higher-ups, said P Ilango, a professor in social work at Bharathidasan University, who has expertise in the field for more than a decade.


Ironically, training period for such officials, particularly constables, has been reduced in Tamil Nadu to seven months. “Though guest lectures on coping up with stress are organised frequently, we will be able to train them better if we have more time,” a senior police officer who trains head constables told TOI.



The retired DGP said bulk recruitment leaves little ground to train police personnel on handling stress. “Only very few get proper training at centres including those in Vellore and Coimbatore. Others are trained by dispassionate teachers. The training period should again be increased to 12 months and more experts should be roped in on a permanent basis,” the retired officer said.