A little more than two weeks ago, a police official in Kamalassery in Kerala was found to have died by suicide at the Armed Reserve camp quarters. He was in his 50s, active in the Kerala Police Officers Association, and the president of the Ernakulam Rural Unit. Financial difficulties led him to take the drastic step, police said. From 2016 to mid-2019, 59 deaths by suicide have taken place within the police force, sources say, most of them having happened in 2019. That same year, the police strengthened a project it began in 2017 – Help and Assistance to Tackle Stress or HATS – to help its employees with their mental health problems.
“It was originally launched on January 27, 2017. When the number of suicides increased (13 in 2016, 14 in 2017, 13 in 2018 and 19 in just a few months of 2019), HATS was highlighted in a bigger way,” says an official who is in charge of the project.
A counsellor and a psychologist are presently available for members of the police force to talk to about any issues they face. If they require psychiatric help, they are referred to other doctors and hospitals. From 2017 onward, more than 4,000 police officials have approached HATS directly and another 1,000 have sought help from them via phone. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all the consulting was done over the phone, but the official says direct consulting is preferred.
“Problems can vary from family issues to alcoholism. Most of the issues come from officials not being able to spend enough time with family or friends. Police work, unlike other jobs, is very unpredictable. One may apply for leave and then be called in for duty when there is an unforeseen emergency, like a strike or a flood, or even a pandemic. They may have to give up whatever they were doing and travel to another district straight away. This causes a lot of mental health difficulties for some officials,” says the HATS in-charge personnel.
Some police officials try to deal with this by taking to drinking which then in many cases leads to alcoholism and even more issues at home according to the HATS staff. The programme has therefore specified areas of counseling and de-addiction for everything from drugs to phones is dealt with.
“We counsel not just the police personnel but also their families through HATS. The family may not understand the sort of job requirements that keep a police official away for days or not let them spend time with family. The root cause of all this is the lack of police officials. That’s why the force can’t afford officials going on leave at a time of need and are compelled to call them back to duty,” says the HATS staff.
Another major reason that drives police personnel to suicide is financial difficulties, like in the case of the Kalamassery official. “Financial problems, family issues, and sometimes diseases can come as reasons of suicide. In rare cases, the name of a senior official may be dropped in suicide notes. But that is mostly a one-off case where it can be a personal issue between the two officials,” says KP Praveen, general secretary of the Kerala Police Association. He, however, adds that they have not identified work pressure or stress as a major reason for suicide in the force.
The association has been doing its part in providing financial aid to the bereaved families of police officials as well. “From 1980, we have been doing this, by collecting money from within the force. In the early days the association collected Re 1 from an official every month. Now it is anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 250 per month. We have been able to provide several lakh rupees to a family that has lost a member who is in the police force. The amount varies depending on the district. Recently we could give Rs 12.9 lakh to one family and Rs 10 lakh to another. However, no police official, however financially constrained they might have been, has ever mentioned in suicide notes that they are dying so that their families would get this money,” Praveen adds.
Many of the police officials who have turned to HATS for help have been on the verge of suicide. Some would have already made attempts to take their life. The HATS official remembers an official who survived an attempt and recovered after a series of counseling sessions. “We also do follow-ups and keep a check on them. So far, none of the 5,000 odd people–including officials and their family members–who approached us have resorted to attempting suicide afterward.”
The police, through HATS, are trying to spread the message that help is available. Those from the Kerala Police force or their family members who would like to talk to someone can contact HATS on 9495363896.