SOP being ignored, no regular mock drills by police
Representational picture of a mock drill. (Photo: DC/File)
kozhikode: The bomb blast in Chennai that killed one person and injured many is a warning to the Kerala police force not to be complacent about the terror situation in the state. Though there was a strict guideline from the Union home ministry to the police in all states post-Mumbai terror strike that a well-documented and exhaustive Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) should be created and practised, no attention seems to have been paid to it by the police force.
The state police have come out with guidelines to be followed during a terror strike. They suggest mock drills to be conducted regularly to prepare the force to meet any eventuality. However, nothing has happened on the ground, except for the occasional mock drills carried out occasionally.
“I issued an SOP early in 2013 and we made some attempts to put it in place. But I am not sure how many of my officials have gone through it. We do conduct mock drills but the frequency is not at the desired level,” DGP Balasubramaniam told DC.
He said a disaster relief force of about 150 personnel is being trained now. And another batch would be ready in another year. “Our preparations have to be improved,” he added.
“We have not carried out any serious drills in compliance with the guidelines. Most of us do not know what are the details mentioned in these guidelines. Even the mock drills turned out to be just ‘mock’ drills without achieving the desired results,” a police official attached to Kozhikode city police said.
However, city police commissioner A.V. George explained, “We have guidelines and my predecessors have carried out mock drills in co-ordination with the coastal police and coastal Jagratha samithis.”
Other than conducting mock drills, none pays any attention to the inter-departmental co-ordination and need to upgrade the force to meet such eventualities. The fund allocation for weapon purchase and upgrading equipment and technology is minimal.
“The manpower crunch is a big issue. So is the lack of funds for purchase and maintenance of existing equipment and weapons,” a senior police official said.
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