India�s police force is among the weakest in the world. How is the understaffing in police force related to the issues plaguing it?

Indian Police Force is regarded as the weakest force in the world. Many issues which are plaguing the same have stemmed from its understaffing. The police remain overburdened due to the criminalisation of politics and the apparent reluctance to reforms.
� As per a survey was undertaken by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, it was found that surprisingly only less than 25 percent of Indians only trust the police in comparison to 54% for the army. The distrust is mainly due to the frustrating interactions of the people with the police force.
� Also, there is a huge pendency of cases among the police force due to a lack of resources. Despite the sanctioned strength of 2.8 million in the state police force, only 1.9 million people were employed. Thus, there are only 144 police officers for every 100,000 people. This is amongst the weakest in the world as against the UN recommended ratio of 222.
� In many states like Bihar, UP, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal the ratio is even worse as there are only 100 police officers for every 100,000 people. It is only in Punjab and the North-Eastern states that the ratio meets the global standard.
� Even a fully staffed police force in India will not be able to meet the global standard as it will only be able to touch 185. This is due to a rapid rise in the population of these areas. Also, the decreased spending on police in recent years has added to the resource crunch. This means that the most important duties like the basic policing to ensure law and order stand compromised. Even long-term criminal investigations suffer.
� Also, there is undue influence of politicians on police. This can only be checked by limiting executive control over the police department.

Topics: GS-III: Various Security Forces and Agencies and Their Mandate