The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, the country’s premier police training school, is all set to enter into an agreement with the French government for the exchange of cadets for imparting training. This cutting-edge foreign attachment would further sharpen the skills of IPS probationers to tackle new-age challenges back home. Cybercrime, terrorism, urban policing are some of the evolving areas of concern so far as policing is concerned.
Speaking to The Hindu , SVPNPA Director Atul Karwal said that Ambassador of France to India Emmanuel Lenain, along with some senior police officers of his country, had visited the NPA a few months ago to explore the possibilities of exchange of IPS probationers from India and French senior police officers for advanced training here. “We have to wait and see where it takes,” Mr Karwal said.
For the past few years, NPA has been sending its probationers for foreign training in Israel. However, due to international restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the foreign attachment programme has been called off.
Russia and Sri Lanka
Going forward, NPA will also be looking at training collaborations with Russia and Sri Lanka. Two years ago, the institute added Mauritius to its list and had been training police officers from there, apart from officers from Nepal (since 1954) Bhutan (since1965) and Maldives (since 1998).
Further, the Director said the academy reoriented its training modules to suit the contemporary policing challenges as each problem requires distinctly different methods to control the situation on the ground — be it Kashmir insurgency, North Eastern States peculiar problems, Left Wing Extremism and organised urban criminal policing.
“Apart from various other modules, we have also introduced Riot Control Module, creating a practical situation of stone pelting and to see how our trainee officers would tackle the situation. We rope in our staff and people from neighbouring areas to first throw tennis balls, followed by stones and other objects on the officers for real-time experience,” Mr. Karwal said, adding that such tactical exercises would enhance their skills.
Foreign roots
Mr. Karwal said that the academy has become a centre of excellence in the entire sub-continent as senior police personnel from Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Mauritius have been trained here.
They find their roots in Hyderabad, which in turn helps IPS officials (whom they are trained with) to have seamless coordination with their counterparts in the neighbouring countries. To celebrate the common roots among our nations, a special plantation drive was conducted in the academy on Tuesday. Officer trainees from these nations, training with 71, 72 and 73 RR, planted trees at groves designated for their nations as a mark of historical camaraderie with Indian police officers.
