Tamil Nadu to better the national average in police to public ratio

With the sanction of 29,108 new posts in the police department, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay addressed the long-pending critical issue of acute manpower shortage and corresponding increase in workload affecting the overall efficiency of the force.

The state police department is now set to improve the national average of the police-to-public ratio, which has been steadily declining in recent years.

The police to public ratio of the Tamil Nadu Police was 198.07 in 2013, which was 12.82 points higher than the national ratio of 185.25. However, the 2024 data revealed that the state’s ratio had dropped to 171.98, while the national ratio had increased to 194.40.

The huge vacancies in the rank and file have led to enormous pressure on the existing force due to the growing population, urbanization and rise in crime over the years, impacting crime prevention/detection, serious crime investigation and other routine police work.

Although new police commissionerates, police districts and special units have been created in the last 6-7 years, only 1,881 new posts have been approved. As approximately 20,000 police personnel were redeployed in the newly created establishments, the workload of the force, particularly among constables, head constables and sub-inspectors, increased substantially. The urgent need to fill the vacancies was also recommended in the fifth Tamil Nadu Police Commission, whose report is yet to be submitted.

Sources in the police headquarters said that in 2009, police stations were classified into Light, Medium and Heavy categories, with sanctioned strengths of 30, 50 and 80 personnel respectively. Based on this classification, additional manpower was sanctioned in 8 districts in 2011, 2013 and 2018 representing 4,928, 5,000 and 6,086 posts respectively. However, the total number of these 16,014 seats was not enough for the actual requirement of 24,481 seats.

Strength after 17 years

“After a period of 17 years since the original classification, the required additional force has now been sanctioned in the current year. This is an important step to address the manpower shortage and reduce the workload of the police personnel,” says Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, Director General of Police and Commandant of the Police Force.

Earlier, the state government had issued orders to create 4,563 new posts for the newly formed Singappen Special Unit and the Anti-Drug Task Force.

“With the creation of these posts, the police-to-public ratio in Tamil Nadu is expected to rise above the current all-India average. This will help reduce the workload of police personnel and facilitate the deployment of more personnel for field duties, thereby improving police response and public safety,” said Dr. Aggarwal.

The government has also announced funding to replace condemned vehicles. The lack of vehicles previously led to delays in reaching emergency call-related locations and crime scenes. The introduction of additional vehicles would enable police personnel to respond quickly to emergencies and crime scenes, thereby helping to control situations at the very initial stage, police officers say.

The ₹212 crore earmarked for modernization of the force would help focus on deployment of artificial intelligence, digital and information technology infrastructure and round-the-clock surveillance systems, among others, to help the police address new security, intelligence and investigative challenges.

The increase in contingency funds at the police station level from ₹3,750 in light to ₹30,000 in light, ₹6,000 to ₹40,000 in medium and ₹8,250 to ₹50,000 in heavy police department would not only help deal with complaints and unauthorized police officers.

The allocation of ₹ 4,477.58 crore under the Police Demand for 2026-27 alone was 11.6 times higher than the average annual allocation of the last five years, police sources said.

Published – 11 Sep 2026 0:42 IST