Mental Health Impact of COVID-19 on Police Personnel in India

India reported the first case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on January 30, 2020. The government, since then has advocated wearing masks, physical distancing, avoiding public gathering, shutting down malls and theatres, isolation of positive cases, and quarantine of high-risk individuals as major preventive measures against COVID-19. Police were among the first responders to the COVID-19 disaster and are popularly listed among the “corona warriors,” along with health care personnel.

Police personnel in India are generally trained in dealing with natural and man-made disasters, though pandemic control is not emphasized as a subject during the training of the police.¹ Consequently, the COVID-19 pandemic required many police personnel to assume responsibility for the emergencies that were not part of their regular work profile.^{1, 2} The primary responsibility of implementing the lockdown through restricting public movement and ensuring physical distancing was shouldered by the police force during the pandemic, through the enforcement of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1987, and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.¹ Police personnel was mobilized for a variety of tasks—to monitor check posts, monitor COVID-19 infection hotspots, and ensure lockdown as well as containment. In addition to this, police personnel also carried out a variety of unconventional duties, including creating social awareness, clarifying fake news, daily inspection of people in isolation or quarantine, assisting the health department in contact tracing activities, helping migrant workers to enter shelters, and helping the needy persons to access medical and other essential services.^{3, 4}

Lack of awareness and specific knowledge of COVID-19 prevention and inadequate or inappropriate use of personal protective gear like mask and gloves substantially increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19 among police personnel.¹ Table 1 shows the impact of COVID-19 on police personnel in India and Table 2 shows the infection rate in the police force in comparison to the general population as of August 31, 2020.^5–7 It appears that police personnel are 8.78 times more likely to get affected by COVID-19 compared to the general population. In order to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, the police departments have made risk mitigation plans like modifications in their human resource allotment (working with a small team, desk job for the vulnerable population rather than fieldwork) and use of technology in the services.^{1, 2, 4, 8}

Table 1. The Impact of COVID-19 on Indian Police Personnel (as on August 31, 2020).

Number of police personnel who tested positive		71,832
Number of police personnel quarantined		25,013
Number of police personnel who died		428
Number of police personnel injured in attacks		260
Top five states/division (personnel tested positive)	Maharashtra	14,792
	Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)	7,144
	Telangana	5,684
	Border Security Force (BSF)	4,983
	West Bengal	4,500
Top five states/division (personnel quarantined)	Maharashtra	8,000
	Border Security Force (BSF)	7,981
	Madhya Pradesh	2,000
	Uttarakhand	1,970
	Kerala	1,166

Source: Indian Police Foundation website.⁶

Table 2. The Infection Rate in the Police Force in Comparison to the General Population (as on August 31, 2020).

	India	Indian Police Force
Total population	1,382,341,425	3,035,632
Total cases reported	3,679,411	71,832
% of the population affected	0.27	2.37

Sources: Indian Police Foundation website6 and Worldometer website.13,14

The unconventional responsibilities, demanding working conditions, and the ambiguity in the role of the police may result in job stress and burnout and have been established in earlier studies as a source of occupational stress among Indian police personnel.^{9, 10} The concern about being infected from the community and workplace may also be a potential source of fear among police personnel.¹ Furthermore, concerns about carrying the infection to the family members may also be a source of psychological distress. Additionally, fear of quarantine and social stigma are possible causes of distress. This can result in a greater likelihood of police personnel developing a range of psychological problems such as burnout, emotional disturbances, psychological distress, sleep disturbances, anxiety, depression, substance use, and post-traumatic stress disorder.¹¹ As per a recent online survey in which 102 police personnel of Maharashtra police department participated, 50% of the respondents had mental disturbance due to fear of the COVID-19 virus, whereas 32.4% reported being under stress due to multiple reasons at the workplace.¹² There are sporadic incidents of suicide by police personnel associated with the fear of catching COVID-19.^{13, 14} In addition to increased workload and exposure to infection with coronavirus, police personnel, when trying to maintain law and order, are not uncommonly exposed to aggressive assaults by the public. Overall, since the COVID-19 crisis started, about 260 policemen have been injured in various incidents throughout the country.⁵ Such incidents pose a significant concern about their protection at work. This not only diminishes their morale but can also lead to significant psychological distress.

The COVID-19 crisis has undoubtedly impacted law enforcement practices across India. Therefore, the need of the hour is to pay attention to the psychological wellbeing of the police personnel. The first step towards this could be to raise awareness among them about mental health problems. It may be helpful to establish peer support networks within the police department to recognize and address their psychological problems. Because of high workload and stress, programs that target positive coping skills and building resilience can mitigate psychological distress. Training in relaxation practices such as deep breathing, meditation, or yoga can serve as methods to improve police personnel’s mental health and help them to cope with stress positively.¹¹ Those police personnel who work away from their homes or undergo quarantine should be encouraged to maintain regular communication with the families through audio/video modalities to strengthen their primary system of support. In addition to ensuring adequate strategies for infection control and access to timely and affordable treatment, it may be advisable to establish facilities through telephone helplines or video consultation to provide psychological support. Police personnel with pre-existing psychiatric illnesses may be vulnerable to a worsening of those problems or developing new symptoms such as anxiety or depression. Timely referrals to seek psychiatric help for severe psychological symptoms should be encouraged.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.