High-tech training at police academy

[Abingdonboy]

High-tech training at police academy
Hyderabad, February 14: In order to keep the ‘young guns’ blazing in times of emergency, particularly to deal with insurgency operations and hostage situations, the young Indian police officers will from now on be trained in handling a variety of sophisticated weapons. They will also be put through 3-D imaging warfare technology training.

The Indian Police Service (IPS) training institute, the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), has procured a wide range of weapons from various countries, including US and Germany. It has also developed its own 3-D warfare technology system.

“We will soon be having a library of 3-D images of important and

vital installations which are on the radar of terrorists. This will help us prepare the commandos to deal with any strike or a hostage situation in the buildings,” NPA director said at an informal chat with reporters.

“During the terror strike at Hotel Taj (Mumbai attacks), our policemen who were moving about in the hotel corridors without proper knowledge of the building plan became easy targets for the terrorits. If we had a 3-D image of the building, we could have briefed our commandos on how to move inside the hotel,” the director said.

To start with, the NPA is planning to have a walk-through 3-D plan of its own building. The director, however, did not reveal what other buildings would be studied.

The NPA’s Special Tactics Wing is acquiring a wide range of sophisticated weapons for imparting training to young officers.

“We want to demonstrate various weapons that are used in the world to the officers,” deputy director (Tactics and Administration) Praveen Sinha said. The NPA has acquired American and European weapons, including close-combat weapons (less than 50 metres range), assault weapons (50 to 100 metres) and long-range weapons which cover 500m and beyond.

“We are also looking at Austrian and German arms. One such weapon is the ‘corner shot’ using which a target hiding behind a pillar or a structure could be hit. The weapon has a bent nozzle and a mirror attached to it. The user can see the target in the mirror and fire at the target,” the officers said.

The weapons training would be given to nearly 950 officers, including 200 from forces like the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Meanwhile, the NPA is awaiting allotment of a 400-acre site at Ibrahimpatnam to start its training facility there. “The location suits well for tactic training, grenade firing and jungle warfare training. So far, we have been using the Greyhounds facilities for such type of training,” Mathur said.

The Union Home Ministry had approved acquisition of the 400-acre site. They had written to the Ranga Reddy district collector to begin the process of acquisition, Mathur said.

High-tech training at police academy | Siasat


good move!