If everything goes according to plan,over 6,000 station house officers (SHOs) posted in police stations across the country will soon receive training from top management experts from India and abroad to help them hone their man management and people-to-people skills. In response to a tender floated by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in this regard,top B-schools,including at least two IIMs and two foreign universities,and some MNCs are among the 60 organisations that have made a pitch for the unique scheme. Sources told The Indian Express that of the 60 that applied,27 organisations have been short-listed. A final decision on who will finally get to train the police officers is expected by mid-March. The scheme is part of the Rs 25-crore plan of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to facilitate training interventions for the police forces for bridging the gaps so that the police personnel are able to discharge their duties more effectively. Among other things,the experts are expected to train the cops in analysing and identifying the desirable benchmark of performance and actual performance at each rank,in consultation with various stakeholders. One of the jobs of the police is to maintain public order. But the field level officers are not aware as to what should be the quality of this maintenance as there is no benchmark. And the public remains largely dissatisfied. We want the experts to bridge such gaps so that police personnel are able to discharge their duties more effectively, said a senior MHA functionary. According to the terms of the tender,there are 10 parameters on which the companies have been asked to come up with a training plan. One of them is assessing the quality of investigation in states and developing a suitable training curriculum to ensure quality investigation. The idea is to ascertain the degree of knowledge exhibited by the investigating officers to collect the evidence in order to secure successful prosecution and conviction, says the concept note prepared by BPR&D. The note also says that an analysis by the agency has revealed that while SHOs are reasonably conversant with basic police skills regarding law,forensic science,etc,they lack listening skills,counseling skills,communication skills,inter-personal conflict resolution skills,stress management skills,motivating skills,writing skills,etc. In the absence of such skills,complaints of police insensitivity are often received, it adds.
