Goa Police Faces Staffing Crisis with 10% Vacancies Amid Recruitment Challenges

Panaji: The Goa police currently face a shortage of personnel, with 10% of positions unfilled. State govt has sanctioned 10,782 different posts for the Goa police, but only 9,782 vacancies are filled.
A total of 215 posts of police sub-inspectors (PSIs) are vacant, which is directly connected to investigation, and 28 posts of direct deputy superintendent of police (DySP) have remained vacant for more than two years.
Goa Police said that a proposal was sent to govt to fill six vacant posts of DySP by promotion. “Govt has requested us to inform them whether 10 vacancies, which are diverted to the promotion quota, have to be reverted to the direct recruitment quota,” police said.
With regard to direct recruitment, a proposal for filling 28 vacancies of direct recruitment of DySP was forwarded to the home department in 2023. These vacancies were advertised for by the Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) in Aug 2023, however, govt reiterated the decision to stop the recruitment process, which was conveyed to the GPSC by the department of personnel in Dec 2023.
The police said that regarding the remaining one post, a proposal for diverting two posts from the promotion quota to direct recruitment was sent to the personnel department. “As soon as the approval is received, a proposal to fill up three posts by direct recruitment will be forwarded to the home department,” a police officer said.
Police said that of 194 vacancies of direct recruitment, a proposal to fill up 152 vacancies was started by the Goa Staff Selection Commission (SSC) a year ago. Another proposal to fill up 35 vacancies was started by the SSC in Jan.
“The remaining recruitment of seven vacancies will soon be started by the SSC. With regards to promotion, nine PSIs are already holding charge of officiating police inspector. The promotion order of seven PSIs is up for approval, and five vacancies, which occur in Feb 2025 for the promotion quota, will be filled shortly,” a police officer said.
With regards to the promotion of DySP to SP, police said, “No DySP with six years of regular service is available in the feeder grade for promotion to the post of six superintendent of police (SP).”