PTS in for a radical attitudinal change

VADODARA, Sept 1: Concern for human rights by the police. Sympathetic approach towards the people, especially women, children and senior ...

VADODARA, Sept 1: Concern for human rights by the police. Sympathetic approach towards the people, especially women, children and senior citizens. An understanding attitude towards complainants and crime victims.

An attitudinal change among policemen may become a reality in Gujarat, even if theoretically to start with. How much of it comes into being is something for time to tell, but compassion has now become a part of training at the Police Training School in Vadodara, one among the three in the State.

Set up as a regional training centre in 1955, the Vadodara Police Training School is going in for a complete overhaul of its syllabus. Explaining the reasons, its vice-principal H M Saiyed says, “The role of the police in the national scenario has undergone a change and the police force need be transformed from a wholly law and order oriented force into a force which cares for the aspirations of the weaker sections of the society.” Training, he observes, should not be restricted to just instructions regarding how to write FIRs and do patrolling.

Though constables are educated about various acts and laws necessary for dealing with day to day crime, training in human rights has been given weight in the PTS, in keeping with changes in international policing as well as crime scenario, he says.

On why police officers do not prefer to work at police training centres and treat it just a stop-gap arrangement till a “better” posting came their way, he said it was a difficult question to answer, but asserted that a permanent faculty on the pattern of other educational institutions would go a long way in improving the training standard.

PTS provides training in handling modern weapons like AK-47, AK-57, light machine guns and thompson machine guns, though the police force in Gujarat is not provided with these sophisticated weapons.

The training school has also started training its candidates in judo and karate. A total of 3,185 candidates have so far been trained in martial arts and another 868 in swimming in order to keep the force well-equipped for any rescue and relief work in case of any natural calamities.

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Though the institute is fully equipped with indoor and outdoor firing ranges and a model police station for practical training to recruits, lack of staff is a major obstacle in proper training of constabulary. Out of 19 PIs and 23 PSIs for imparting practical training, there are only 16 and 10 PSIs respectively at present, regrets institute principal H C Solanki.

Spread over several acres of land across the Palace, PTS is one of the three police training institutes in Gujarat, the other two being in Junagadh and Chowki.

While Junagadh’s Police Training College trains police sub-inspectors and Gujarat Police Service candidates recruited through the Gujarat Public Service Commission, the Chowki Training Centre provides training to State Reserve Police personnel.

The PTS’s annual budget is Rs 3.25 crore and it has the facility to train 850 to 1,000 constable annually. So far, it has in 239 sessions trained 13,608 constables. Each session is of 8 months, with four examinations conducted every two months.