A total of 1,347 police personnel died due to various reasons in 1,460 days ending December 31, 2023. The data sourced from media reports and police sources show that a majority of the deaths were caused by chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. While sensitising the force to the importance of a more healthy lifestyle to prevent or minimise the ill-effects of co-morbidities, senior officials of the Tamil Nadu Police are chalking out strategies to curb deaths by suicide and in road accidents.
The data show that a maximum of 414 police personnel died in 2021 (calendar year), and 132 of them passed away owing to ill health, 81 because of COVID-19 complications, 60 in road accidents, 59 owing to heart attacks, and 23 of cancer. The number of deaths reported in 2020, 2022, and 2023 were 337, 283, and 313 respectively. An average of three to four deaths by suicide were reported every month in the last three years, police sources say. Besides health issues that mainly account for the untimely deaths, senior officers are concerned about young policemen ending their lives for reasons such as loss of money in online gaming, debts, work pressure, and relationship problems. Despite the availability of grievance redress mechanisms, some are not opting for counselling or any other kind of assistance.
