Bengaluru: Police training lays little emphasis on interrogation, say experts

Bengaluru: Interrogation (of suspects) is at the heart of police investigation and yet there’s hardly any emphasis given to it in the syllabus for new recruits in the Karnataka police.

“There is no separate chapter on interrogation in the Karnataka police manual, though it is integral to criminal investigation. It is clubbed with investigation. In the manual, there’s 50 per cent emphasis on crime aprevention and detection and the next half is focused on investigation in which interrogation is a component. Not everyone, who is recruited as a cop, has interrogation skills. Hardly five per cent of the officers have the knack to elicit credible information from suspects,” said an officer, who didn’t wish to be named.

He said that the focus of the new recruits has changed, from merit-based performance to ‘connection-based’ career gains.

“There should be more focus on basic policing and an aptitude and training in interrogation skills are critical for police function. Karnataka is a peaceful state and fortunately has not had any serious crime/internal security or law and order issues. This has created a laidback atmosphere in the police force. Frequent transfers of officers, who are posted at the training wing, have weakened the section. Three inspectors general of police have been transferred in the last six months in the training wing. The post of Director, Karnataka Police Academy, Mysuru was vacant for a long time till recently, when the IGP, Mysuru range, who was holding additional charge of KPA, was appointed as Director of the Academy. Currently, 36 deputy superintendents of police the biggest batch of DSPs in the recent past and 300 sub-inspectors are undergoing training in Karnataka,” said another officer.

There are 14 police training schools in the state, including the KPA and Training College at Kalburgi.

In the last five years, 20,000 police personnel have been trained from these institutes.

“Unfortunately, there’s little interest in a posting in training. It’s not the same as in Defence services, where cadets take pride in naming their trainers. Police trainers are retired police officers, who are outdated with new crimes and criminals. Many states, including the Central government, has been giving incentives ranging between 15 and 30 percent of their basic salary to officers posted in police training, In Karnataka, the incentives are meagre and unattractive. This is also an ‘excuse’ to stay away from being posted in training,” the officer said.