Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): With only eight police training schools, the State produces 7,850 newly recruited constables in a year against a huge gap of around 20,000 posts lying vacant in the police department. And to add to the gap, around 2,000 police personnel retire every year.

There is a huge difference between the sanctioned posts and cops on duty in the state. Currently, 1.06 lakh policemen are serving in the state, while the number of sanctioned posts stands at 1,25,489.

The department is unable to fill the 20,000 vacancies at one go by calling mass recruitment as it lacks adequate training facilities. It is mandatory for every cop to undergo nine months of training before being posted. With the police training schools having capacity to accommodate only 7,850 recruits, the department has a limitation in carrying out recruitment beyond this figure in one go.

10 training centers, 8 for constables

A total of 10 academies are run for police training in the state. While 8 academies carry out training for constables, two provide training to SI and DSP level officers. Training centers for constables are located in Bhauri Bhopal, PTC Indore, PTS Pachmarhi, PTS Rewa, PTS Tigra (Gwalior), PTS Ujjain, and PTS Umaria. Currently, only Bhauri has the facility for training DSPs and SIs.

Earlier, SI training was conducted in JNPA, Sagar but now only induction courses are held there. Apart from this, only weapon training is given in Rustamji Armed Police Training College, Indore, while in another Indore-based center, candidates selected for police radio undergo training. Importantly, only Bhauri (Bhopal) and Indore training facilities train female recruits.

Long recruitment cycle

The long training process in the recruitment of the police department is also a major reason for the rise in the number of vacancies. For example, after 2018, the next constable recruitment exam was held in 2023. The result of the 2023 recruitment exam was also declared two years later, in May-June 2025.

There was no police recruitment in 2024. In 2025, the recruitment process started for filling 7,500 constable posts and 1,000 SI and clerical posts; however, it got stuck in an administrative quagmire. And to add to the gap between new recruitment and vacancies, a large number of policemen retire every year.

About 10,000 police personnel have retired in the last five years, which means that on average more than 2,000 policemen are retiring every year. A recruitment process takes two to three years, and by the time 6,000 new policemen are ready, almost the same number of old employees have already retired.

ADG Training, Raja Babu Singh said, "The total capacity of police training academies and schools in the state is 7,850. More than this number of trainees cannot be trained at a time."