The State police would soon have a specialised counter-terrorism unit, ‘Force One’, to tackle terrorist and disruptive activities effectively, Director-General of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), Rajan Gupta, said here on Friday.
Addressing the gathering at the two-day second All-India Conference of Commissioners of Police here, Mr. Gupta stated that the special team, comprising handpicked officials from the State police, would be trained by the National Security Guards (NSG) just as they had done with the ‘Force One’ in Maharashtra.
The Union government would bear the training expenses, he said.
About ‘Force One’
‘Force One’ was set up to guard the Mumbai metropolitan area, one of the largest such areas in the world. ‘Force One’ was formed by Maharashtra government on the lines of the NSG. It was formed in Maharashtra after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and it was commissioned two days before the first anniversary of the blasts.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gupta, making few suggestions for the better policing, said that the present police number ‘100’ should be integrated with fire, medical, and rescue and disaster management situations. This would help people as they would be dialling one number for any emergency.
Mr. Gupta said human rights violations by the police had come down greatly after the establishment of police commissionerates in urban areas. Policing was now part of planned development, he claimed.
Home Minister K.J. George thanked the BPR &D chief for the support to the State on the issue of tackling terrorism. “Our government will facilitate everything to get Force One unit,” he said.
Minister for Transport R. Ramalinga Reddy maintained that cyber crimes were on the rise and the Police Department would have to evolve measures to contain the new forms of crime, he said.
Bangalore was located in the middle of south India and the Police Commissionerate was formed on July 5, 1963 here. “It is celebrating the 50th year of its formation,” he added.