The Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP) will share its expertise in managing high-security prisons with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), a paramilitary force that works under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
Following a request from the CRPF, which has been tasked with guarding the Mandoli prison complex in New Delhi, the State police has agreed to help familiarise the central force with the intricacies of high-security prisons.
A few batches of personnel have already been trained at the high-security blocks in the Tihar jail, which is guarded by the 8th battalion of the TSP, police sources said on Wednesday.
For over three decades, the TSP battalion has been deployed on security duty at the Tihar jail in New Delhi. The performance of the police unit from Tamil Nadu has come in for appreciation on various occasions in the past.
In fact, the New Delhi government was so impressed with TSP’s work that it requested the Tamil Nadu government to send personnel for deployment at the Mandoli prison too.
Training at Tihar
“We received a formal request from the CRPF for familiarisation training from the TSP.
“After the central force took over [responsibility for] security at the high-security block, they sought training from us on the risks and challenges. The training programme is on at the Tihar jail, where 1,000-plus men of the TSP have been deployed for prison security,” a senior police officer said.
Recalling instances in the past when the TSP proved its mettle, the officer said that in 2014, Quick Reaction Team apprehended a prisoner who got into a water lorry in an attempt to escape from Tihar jail.
“Many suicide attempts by inmates were prevented thanks to the alertness of the men on duty. In the last five years, dozens of mobile phones, foreign/Indian currency and other contraband that prisoners attempted to smuggle into the Tihar jail have been seized,” he said.
The officer, who preferred not to be identified, said that the security of high-risk wards was a challenge since dreaded criminals, gangsters, terrorists and extremists were lodged there. The nature of the work in high-security blocks required a sensitive approach to issues while maintaining a high level of alertness.
“It definitely requires some additional/special training for the police to be deployed in these high-risk prisons. We recently launched a ‘sensitisation capsule programme’ to fine tune the security management skills of new personnel,” the officer said.
