Coming down heavily on state police chiefs for arbitrarily transferring senior officers, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday that many police personnel had been reduced to footballs, being kicked from one post to the other.

"It is a matter of deep regret that many police officers have been reduced to a football, to be kicked here and there, from one post to another, without regard to the damage done to the job as well as the officer," Chidambaram said in his opening remarks at the three-day conference of state police chiefs.