O.P. Singh - Policing At Blink Speed

Governments across the world are beginning to question the cult of instant service. When India recently advised companies not to insist on ten-minute deliveries, it was not merely a consumer protection gesture. It was an acknowledgement of something deeper: human bodies are not designed to operate perpetually at emergency speed. The warning was aimed at the gig economy. Yet its most urgent application may lie within the police force itself.

Modern policing has become a profession measured in seconds. Response times are tracked obsessively. Patrols are redirected constantly. Officers move from one flashpoint to another with barely a pause. Technology has accelerated everything—from dispatch systems to surveillance feeds—creating what might be called “blink-speed policing”.

What has not changed is the human nervous system.

The body of a police officer—constable, inspector or superintendent alike—operates under continuous biochemical strain. The profession is dominated by cortisol and adrenaline, the hormones that prepare the body for danger. In short bursts, they sharpen focus and reaction. Over years, they damage the heart, cloud judgement and exhaust the immune system.

Research from multiple countries shows that police officers suffer disproportionately from hypertension, cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders and metabolic problems. Some studies suggest rates of heart disease among officers are up to 40–70% higher than in comparable civilian populations. Stress-related absenteeism and early retirement cost governments billions annually.

India’s experience is no different. Surveys consistently reveal alarming levels of high blood pressure, obesity and burnout among police personnel—often beginning within a decade of service. Speed, it turns out, is expensive.

A Profession Wired For Crisis

The problem is not simply long hours or exposure to danger. It is the constant triggering of the body’s stress response. Every siren, every emergency call, every confrontation releases a chemical cocktail meant for short-term survival. Cortisol mobilises energy but suppresses immunity. Adrenaline boosts alertness but strains the cardiovascular system. Together, they are excellent for escaping threats—and disastrous when activated all day, every day.

Yet modern police systems increasingly institutionalise urgency. Dashboards glow with response metrics. Supervisors push for quicker turnarounds. The message is clear: faster is better. The unintended consequence is a workforce locked in perpetual physiological overdrive.

Neuroscience and positive psychology now offer a clearer picture of what a sustainable performance system looks like. Human beings do not thrive on stress hormones alone. They require balancing chemicals—dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin—to remain motivated, resilient and mentally sharp. Dopamine rewards progress and achievement. Endorphins reduce pain and elevate mood through physical movement.
Oxytocin fosters trust, social bonding and emotional stability.

Elite athletes, surgeons and even Silicon Valley firms increasingly design routines that deliberately stimulate these systems. Policing, by contrast, largely ignores them.

Designing Work For Human Biology

Encouragingly, solutions do not require massive budgets or luxury wellness centres. They require redesigning how police work is organised.

Take movement. Regular physical activity is one of the most reliable ways to lower cortisol and increase endorphins. Yet many urban officers spend long hours stationary—inside vehicles, at barricades or behind desks. Countries such as the Netherlands and parts of Japan have expanded foot and bicycle patrols not merely for community engagement but for officer health. The result has been lower stress levels, improved fitness and stronger public trust.

Or consider motivation. Policing is a profession where success often means “nothing happened today”. Crimes prevented go unnoticed. Small improvements are rarely acknowledged. Behavioural science shows that recognising incremental progress releases dopamine, sustaining morale in demanding environments. Some departments in Scandinavia now begin shifts with brief roll calls highlighting minor wins—resolved disputes, helpful interventions, community praise. These take minutes. Their impact on motivation is measurable.

Human connection is another overlooked resource. Oxytocin, sometimes called the “bonding hormone”, is one of the body’s most effective buffers against stress. Strong team relationships and positive community interactions can biologically counterbalance cortisol.
Stable team assignments—rather than constantly rotating personnel—have been linked in several Western forces to lower burnout and higher operational effectiveness. Community policing models, when done properly, do not just build public trust. They quietly protect officer mental health.

Then there is recovery. High-performance organisations now embed “micro-recovery” moments—short breathing exercises, brief pauses between tasks, structured decompression after intense events. Studies show even two minutes of slow breathing can significantly reduce stress hormones. In policing, transitions are often abrupt. A violent incident is followed immediately by paperwork, then another call. The body is never allowed to reset. Small institutional changes—mandatory brief pauses after major incidents, short guided breathing protocols, quiet rooms at stations—can yield outsized benefits.

The Economics Of Wellbeing

Critics may argue that policing cannot afford such reforms. In reality, it cannot afford not to.

Lifestyle diseases among police personnel generate enormous medical costs, lost workdays and premature retirements. Insurance claims and compensation for stress-related illness quietly drain public finances.
More damaging still is impaired judgement. Chronic stress narrows cognitive bandwidth. It increases impulsivity, reduces empathy and worsens decision-making—precisely the qualities societies expect police officers to display under pressure.

Research consistently links fatigue and elevated cortisol with higher error rates in critical professions, from aviation to medicine. Policing is no exception. Calmer officers are not slower officers. They are better ones.

A Shift In Philosophy

The deeper challenge is cultural. For decades, toughness has been equated with endurance. Stress has been worn almost as a badge of honour. But biology is indifferent to bravado. No amount of discipline can override hormonal reality. A system that constantly floods its workforce with stress chemicals will eventually pay the price—through illness, mistakes and institutional fatigue.

The government’s caution against ten-minute delivery targets recognises a simple truth: relentless urgency breaks people. Policing has long operated under a similar illusion—that humans can indefinitely function like machines. They cannot.

The future of effective law enforcement lies not in faster reaction alone but in smarter design. A profession built around human biology rather than against it will be healthier, sharper and more trusted. Roll calls that motivate. Patrols that move bodies. Teams that bond. Breaks that reset minds. None of these weaken discipline. They strengthen performance.

The Broader Dividend

There is a final, often overlooked benefit. Police officers are not isolated actors. Their mood, judgement and energy shape everyday civic life. A stressed officer transmits tension. A calm one diffuses it. Cities with healthier police forces consistently report better citizen interactions, fewer complaints and higher cooperation rates. Wellbeing, it turns out, is contagious. A happy police officer is not a luxury. He—or she—is a multiplier of public trust and social stability.

As governments modernise policing with artificial intelligence, smarter surveillance and faster communications, they must not neglect the most complex system of all: the human body. Speed will always matter in emergencies. But when speed becomes the organising principle of everyday policing, it quietly corrodes the very institution it seeks to strengthen.

The lesson from biology is clear. Performance is not maximised by stress alone. It is sustained by balance. Policing at blink speed may look efficient on dashboards. In reality, it is burning out the cop—and, in the long run, weakening public safety itself.

Smarter policing will not merely be faster. It will be human.

(The above content is written by O.P. Singh, Former DGP, Haryana)

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