KATHMANDU, Aug 10: Nepal Police is currently facing a demand for around 27,000 additional personnel, based on requests for temporary posts from various local levels.

"Requests have been made for police positions in different areas. Upon review, it appears that an additional 27,000 police personnel are needed," said Police Spokesperson Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Dan Bahadur Karki.

Recent trends show that police responsibilities have expanded beyond traditional cases of murder and robbery to include financial and cyber crimes, increasing the demand for police services. Despite this, the police have ceased proposing increases in staffing to the government. Previous proposals to add 6,000 posts were withdrawn by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, leading to the police halting further requests.

The last significant increase in police positions occurred between mid-September and mid-October 2019, when 3,596 new posts were added. Prior to that, 3,337 posts were added on June 10, 2018. Currently, the police force consists of 79,541 members, with around 33,000 positions added over the past 16 years.

Currently, 8,877, or 11.73 percent, of the police force are women. There are 3,857 vacant posts, primarily due to resignations and a lengthy recruitment process. "The long recruitment cycle and resignation trends contribute to a significant number of vacant posts," DIG Karki explained.

Recruiting a police officer can take up to a year, and vacancies often remain unfilled due to the delay in advertising new positions. The last fiscal year saw 792 police officers resign, with a total of 6,983 resignations over the past five years.

The Nepal Police force was initially 7,000 strong in 1958 and grew to 9,000 within five years. By 1973, the number had reached 11,826, although it briefly decreased by about 400 before increasing steadily.

Following the Maoist rebellion in 1996, the number of police officers surged, reaching 25,945 by 1993. Over the past three decades, the police force has expanded by 206 percent. During this time, the Armed Police Force (APF) was also established, with over 40,000 positions in that organization alone.