Little shooting practice for cops on CWG duty

Even as Delhi Police gets ready for the Commonwealth Games, the security at the venues remains a major problem. A new RTI reply has now revealed that most police officers, especially those posted at the district police stations, hardly get any time to practice shooting. According to the reply, the south district — which has three major venues under it, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium — hardly gets 10 rounds to fire at a practice range.

According to sources, most of the police personnel practice shooting only once in a year owing to pressing "official duties".

The result is not too rosy. While personnel in the Outer district get to fire 30 rounds in a year, those in the north district do a little better — they get to fire 40 rounds. Among the districts, the northeast district has the best practice — their personnel fire at least 50 rounds a year. For the more specialized units like the special cell, crime branch and the security cell, this number is significantly higher.

Rajan Bhagat, PRO, Delhi Police said that each officer was given training depending on the specifications of their work. "It would be wrong to say that we do not provide our personnel enough training opportunities. We are aware of the needs of the force and the training schedule is drawn depending on our needs," said Bhagat.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police said they are investing a lot of money on training their men before the Commonwealth Games. "Our executives compulsorily attend the annual training. In addition, we have arranged for special training for all cops who will be allocated weapons during the Games. All such officers will either be allocated small weapons or automatic guns like AK-47s. Each of these men will receive separate training based on the kind of weapon they will be carrying. We will complete this training well before the CWG," said joint commissioner (northern range) Karnal Singh.

Meanwhile, when contacted, senior officials from the districts said it was the pressing daily routine that has kept them very busy. "We have duty at the police station, which includes investigations and even attending court proceedings. Taking a day off for urgent work becomes difficult,leave alone getting the chance to attend regular shooting practice sessions," said a senior police officer refusing to be named.

JCP Singh said all efforts have been made to ensure that every officer carrying a gun is provided at least several hours of training in this year itself.