Over 500,000 police posts vacant; women less than 9% of total force: Report

There were over five lakh vacant posts across the country in the police force, while women constituted less than 9 per cent of the total personnel working by 2019, a new government data stated on Wednesday.

The total sanctioned police force was 25,95,435 while the actual strength was 20,67,270 and 5,28,165 vacant posts, said the annual data obtained and prepared by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), which works under the Union Home Ministry.

Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday released the 'Data on Police Organisations as on January 1, 2019' in the presence of BPR&D Director V S K Kaumudi.

According to the data, the strength of women in police force was 1,85,696, that is 8.98 per cent of the total force. The number of women personnel increased by 9.25 per cent over the previous year, it stated.

1,50,690 new personnel were recruited in police in 2018, the BPR&D data showed.

The total sanctioned strength of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) by January 1, 2019, was 10,98,779 while their actual strength was 9,99,918, it stated.

The strength of women police in the CAPFs was 29,532, which is 2.95 per cent of the total force, it stated.

There were 158.22 police personnel per one lakh population, lower from the sanctioned strength of 198.65 personnel. The population per police person stood at 632.02, higher from the sanctioned 503.40, the data stated.

According to the statistics, there were 777 police districts across the country, 16,771 sanctioned police stations but 16,587 actual police stations.

There were 2,04,807 vehicles and 4,27,529 CCTV cameras available with police in states and Union Territories, it stated.