Cops stressed, but motivated to implement anti-virus norms

Sanjay Sahay | TNN | May 5, 2020, 05:00 IST

Ranchi: Engaged in long work hours, sometimes without food and water, police personnel deployed Covid-19 duties in the state are dealing with enormous stress and anxiety, but they are not complaining. For them, saving people from the pandemic is enough motivation to keep going.
Officers said anti-Covid duty is an entirely new experience for the force whose main job until a couple of months ago, was to control crime. In the last forty days, they have been on the field to enforce the lockdown and help healthcare teams with surveillance and ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items for people in containment zones.
Jitendra Kumar, a constable posted at Doranda police station, said, “There is no time schedule and we don’t knpw hen we will get back home once we leave for work. There are days when we are out on the streets for 12 hours without any food.” He said their job is challenging, but the appreciation people shower on the police force keeps their morale high.
Baloo Kumar, another constable, said the pressure gets to him when people refuse to obey the lockdown norms. “The main weapon in the hands of the police these days is persuasion. We try to cajole and coax people to follow social distancing, but we face tough challenge from locals in certain areas,” he said.
Staying away from family is also keeping several cops on the tenterhooks. City SP Saurav said the police department is worried about the mental and physical wellbeing of its personnel and several measures have been taken to address their problems.
He said, “Senior officers are regularly interacting with cops deployed in Hindpiri, the Covid-19 hotspot in the heart of Ranchi, to know about the difficulties they face and their and requirements. We are keeping all the cops posted in Hindpiri together so that they could boost each other’s morale.”
Meanwhile, senior consultant and neuro psychiatrist Siddharth Sinha said working under conditions when there is real threat of getting infected will naturally cause mental stress among police personnel. “If needed, they should be sent for a mental health check-up after they are withdrawn from duty,” he added.
Jharkhand Police Association president Yogendra Singh said, “Even the traffic police is overworked as they are sometime kept standing at their posts for more than 12 hours. I will soon meet the traffic SP in this regard.”