Visible loopholes
Sunday yet again provided a grim reminder to the security establishment, especially the police that it has miserably failed to check the loopholes that have been affecting it as a malaise since the past few years.
Two incidents within a short span of 100 days have left the police establishment baffled as two similar incidents happened in the city’s posh and secure area of Jawaharnagar.
On September 29, a Special Police Officer deployed with former Peoples Democratic Party legislator Aijaz Mir decamped with seven rifles and Mir’s licensed pistol from his official Jawahar Nagar quarter (J-11).
Though the seven PSOs were placed under suspension and are serving detention since then, the incident had sent the entire security establishment into a tizzy, with the top police authorities ordering withdrawal of services of all SPOs who were deployed for protection of politicians.
However, the follow up to the militant action did not happen and the situation is back to the same after 100 days as a similar action was repeated as four service rifles of policemen guarding the official residence of Congress MLC Muhammad MuzaffarParray were snatched by the gunmen within a whiff.
Weapon snatching phenomenon has been affecting the police since the past two years now. According to official figures, 74 weapons that include 17 AK-47 rifles, 23 SLRs and 14 INSAS guns were snatched by militants in various incidents in 2018.
This figure tells us the lack of preparedness on the part of the police to resist such attempts and foil such activities. The failure of the police establishment to keep the militants at bay when it comes to snatching weapons from the police personnel also points out to the fact that the police has been lacking a professional touch.
The police personnel have not been trained well enough in the present day militant warfare and the police department cannot boast of providing its personnel the required training that is needed in today’s world where the challenge seems to be multidimensional.
The police personnel need to be trained amply that too by experts so that they can be able to deal with situations in a professional manner. Apart from the two incidents at Jawaharnagar, the police personnel need to be trained enough to deal with situations that can arise at any given point of time.
The incident last week when an improvised explosive device was detected on the Srinagar-Bandiporaroad, also provides a grim reminder about the way the police handles the situation.
The IED that while being defused could have caused a great loss as the police personnel who were doing the job casually had a narrow escape as the IED exploded with a bang and even hit some of the personnel with splinters.
A video of how unprofessionally the job was being carried out also went viral showing the loopholes the police department is faced with while dealing with modern day requirements of professional policing.
KV Network
