Hyderabad: Women cops to start training soon

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police initiative ‘Women on Wheels’ is set to go to the next level with an exclusive police station in 2019. Earlier this month, 47 women officers were selected based on certain criteria their willingness to move to the city, their ability to adapt to technology and ride vehicles.

The selected officers would undergo extensive training for over two months in unarmed combat, driving and other technical necessities, said Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar, adding that each police officer would be given a tablet to respond to any emergency distress calls.

“The percentage of women is going up in the city police department. They are able to do all the things that a man can. This is a confidence-building exercise and will give them more visibility,” Mr Kumar said.

The main reason behind launching the initiative was to mainstream women police officers and make them perform duties that till date have been restricted to their male counterparts, said Ms Shikha Goel, additional commissioner of police (Crimes and SIT), Hyderabad.

In the first phase, one team will function per division of the city police. The teams would be used for crime prevention, emergency response, community policing and creating awareness. In the next phase, likely to be in 2019, it would include several police stations with at least one team from each station in the city.