Special police focussing on talent development: IGP
He was talking to reporters at Tamil Nadu Special Police Battalion IV in Kovaipudur after inaugurating a 400 m running track, a cricket pitch, a fish pond and an obstacle course track established at a cost of Rs. 3 lakh. The obstacle course included crawling tunnel, spider climb and slide, single rope walk, double rope walk and wall climbing.
Mr. Arora said the battalions were playing the role of feeder service in terms of manpower needs for Tamil Nadu Commando Force, Special Task Force and the local police force. The 15 Special Police Battalions were having a manpower reserve of 10,000 personnel. On any given day, 90 per cent of the force was on deployment and the remaining 10 per cent was kept for rotation. However, there was no compromise in training.
Ruling out the need for raising new battalion, Mr. Sanjay Arora said a battalion currently headquartered in Chennai was being moved to Sundarampalli in Vellore district. The infrastructure needs for housing the new battalion were under construction. The seventh battalion originally stationed at Palani in Dindigul district had been moved to Pochampalli near Dharmapuri to take care of the manpower needs in the event of any naxal activity.
Mr. Arora said as per the Police Commission recommendations when fully implemented, a stage could come wherein recruitments for Armed Police and local police units would be done separately. Armed Police would impart training for the recruits for the Special Police Battalion while the Temporary and Permanent Police Recruit Schools would take care of the personnel for the local police units.
As best instructors and trainers for elite units and local police units were always from the Tamil Nadu Special Police Battalions, there was no need to outsource training modules or assistance from other States, he said.
