Media reports of police brutality can be perceived as warning signals of job stress, emphatically pointing to the mismanagement of this crucial problem. However, the democratic society expects our policemen to act as agents of social change and the protector of rights and duties of the people. The numerous incidents of police brutality and high-handedness, excessive use of physical force and verbal abuse should prompt a curious observer to look beyond the surface and discover the underlying strain that exists. The highly paradoxical nature of the policemen's job makes it like tightrope walking and deserves a closer scrutiny than accorded to it so far in our country.

Real life policing
Law enforcement in Bangladesh entails upon the police to perform in the worst of conditions and with such rigour that the glamorous exterior image of the police overshadows the challenges encountered in role enactment which are often life threatening and endanger the personnel on duty and also off-duty. The functions of police encompass preservation of law and order, to safeguard people from attack and to protect property, among others. The society expects the cop to play the varied roles with equal elan. He helps and saves but also uses force and makes arrest. This roller-coaster ride is a process difficult to understand functionally and incomprehensible emotionally.

The rigours of working for long hours without rest, meagre remuneration and inadequate living conditions and rotating shifts make it clear why policing is a high stress occupation. The police are expected to accomplish mood swings from loving father, understanding spouse to a lathi wielding defender of law combating a riotous mob. The job makes great demand on the mental, emotional and physical capabilities of the officer; demands that are all too often so stressful that they begin to destroy the individual.

Law enforcement tends to impose a higher degree of stress and a multiplicity of stressful situations on the individual than do most other professions. In the course of his duty, the cop encounters the dark side of human nature and thus with the growing incidence of crime and widening role expectations, the mental and physical health of policemen assumes greater significance than before. In Bangladesh, stresses are frequently triggered from social change, economic conditions, police organisation, the total criminal justice system and the demands made on policeman's time and of his family.

The organisational culture and the impact
It is a sad commentary that up till now for a policeman in Bangladesh the focus is always on the job to be done. People have to last a lifetime and strenuous tasks such as policing eventually become too arduous and exacting. Therefore, the special vulnerability of the police as an occupational group to job stress and burnout deserves recognition with a view to looking for the solutions to the problems. The search may impact on operational procedures and future training and illustrate the potential dangers of certain physical and psychological responses which may be amenable to modification through training and other interventions.

On the street level the police job is fraught with contradictions and inconsistencies. The duties of the police officer depend upon such diverse factors as the law, court decisions, the political climate, community pressures and personality of the commander, amongst others. The consequent role ambiguity is associated with high job related tension.

A police officer's role in contemporary Bangladesh is rather paradoxical in nature. He comes across conflicting situations when he finds that he has to enforce directives which are not strictly legal and which the public wishes that the police would discreetly ignore. Fulfilling the expectations of the public and obligation to his organisational role poses a very difficult situation causing stress to individual officers. This role conflict occurs when simultaneous advent of two or more sets of pressures are such that compliance with one would make more difficult compliance with the other. Therefore, the greatly increased conflicts of role expectations, organisational and institutional constraints, unrealistic demands and dilemmas of the cop in uniform need to be examined explicitly.

The work situation and the image
Looking into the travails of the police one would find the police work is arduous, often dirty and unpleasant and sometimes dangerous. Night work is a standard feature of their life. They are not paid for overtime work. They too often work on holidays and during festivals. While illustrating the process of dehumanisation in the departmental culture of the police, it has been observed that prolonged absence of any family life and absence of nearness to children deprive the policeman of the feel of family life. Absence of reasonable vacation coupled with increasing task pressures drive policeman to do wrong things. A little bit of sadism also creeps in as he is made to sacrifice all he has and receive public condemnation as reward.

Most of us in Bangladesh are familiar with the sloppy, discourteous, rude, aggressive and bully figure in police uniform but we do not seem to realise that policemen are largely underpaid, overworked, demoralised, inadequately trained and equipped and subject to political interference, feared as a persecutor rather than respected as a protector, often callous and corrupt. Analysts have found that the police unrest is a cumulative result of managerial mismanagement, absence of a sense of accomplishment and growth, neglect of basic physiological and psychological needs, absence of effective grievance redressal machinery, emasculated leadership, absence of participative management and unsatisfactory working and living conditions.

From brutalisation to endearment
Police organisation in Bangladesh needs to sit up and take note of the crucial problem of job stress. A comprehensive plan for the recognition, diagnosis and management of stress and stress control programmes for police personnel might help resolve the problem. The subordinate officials who are the most stressed groups should be given counseling for better coping. Both the individuals and the organisation must participate in the stress resolution process.

The police organisation should be engaged to employ the services of psychologist at the time of selection and placement and choose individuals more suitable to perform the job effectively. Right job redesigning may help reduce the stress levels. Clarifying the organisational goal in consonance with law may reduce stressful situations.

The police organisation must look beyond the military model; reorient its structure, policies and procedures; provide adequate support and organisational intervention to the management of stress within the law enforcement agency. Our policemen are truly a stressed lot. Psychological services and trained psychologist must be made an integral part of the organisational setup.

The role of stress management training and intervention strategies in handling police stress should be an area of study. Longitudinal studies may be suitable to investigate the impact of police work on the individual's life and its impact on health, social and psychological well-being.

The endearment process of our police to the community has to be consciously divorced from past traditions. The police have to get closer to the people and at the same time deal with the challenges to the authority which is inherent in a pluralist society. So, the ruling politicians and the courts have to ensure the right use of authority. Instances are plenty where political interference with the administration and work of police have caused serious management and image problems. Our policemen need support from the guardians to minimise public suffering.

Muhammad Nurul Huda is a former Secretary and IGP.