New Commando Force Formed For City
Police Commissioner K.C. Mahali (third right) with the personnel of the newly-formed commando force of the Coimbatore city police on Sunday. Given the recent Mumbai terror attack and growing threat perceptions, the city police have constituted a first line of defence - city commando force to handle emergency situations.Police Commissioner K.C. Mahali said that 32 personnel have been handpicked based on their previous assignments with the Special Task Force (STF) at Sathyamangalam and in Tamil Nadu Commando School in Chennai. The choice of personnel was done on the basis of their shooting skills and perfections in hitting the target. Of the 32, eight had earlier served in STF and 24 in Tamil Nadu Commando School and are currently attached to the City Police Armed Reserve. The commando force would be attached to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K. Shanmugavel who had earlier served as Superintendent of Police, STF.
The personnel would be given a refresher training once again in firing. These personnel had already gone through 12 week training in commando skills. They are found to be efficient in jungle warfare, obstacle course, swimming, running 20 km in two hours, trekking, karate, martial arts and unarmed combat. The personnel are also good at hitting the targets with perfection at night namely with assault weapons, AK series, 9 mm pistol and carbine. The personnel would also be fine tuned in cordon and search operations. Going by the previous history of Coimbatore, it would be prudent to have such a skilled force ready at disposal. Though, there are no threat perceptions, policing requires to be proactive rather than being reactive, hence the decision to have a first line of defence for ensuring timely, instant and swift reaction, Mr. Mahali said.
