Bijnor cops get trained in crowd control measures

BIJNOR: To avoid ‘Bulandshahr-like attack’ on policemen, Bijnor police on Sunday conducted crowd control measures training using non-lethal weapon for the officers and constable here.
“An inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was killed in Bulandshahr earlier this month. As elections are also coming up, the arms training is being given to policemen in order to prevent any attack on the police officers,” said a police official.
Recently, Vinod Kumar Singh, IG Moradabad, has instructed the cops to be alert in the wake of forthcoming parliamentary polls.
The senior officers are giving training to their subordinates on how and when to use non-lethal weapons like rubber, wooden and plastic bullet guns, tear gas, pepper and batons during any riots-like situation.
Interestingly, many policemen, including sub inspectors and constables have shown their inability to apply these crowd control measures.
On being asked about the incident, circle officer (city) Mahesh Kumar, said, “There are two types of arms used in our department. Lethal arms, including rifle, pistol, SLR and AK-47 are generally applied on hardcore criminals and non-lethal weapons are rubber, wooden and plastic bullet guns, tear gas, pepper and batons. However, one has to be eqally careful while using the non-lethal weapons.”
Kumar further said that many policemen were not prepared to operate the non-lethal weapons that are used for crowd control, so the training has an important role to play.