SWAT teams in districts to give police cutting edge

LUCKNOW: After effective deployment of a crime cell in every district, the Uttar Pradesh Police (UPP) has now launched one Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit in every district comprising a sub-inspector (SI), a head constable (HC) and 8 constables trained in latest tactics, including ambush, handling of hostage situations and sniper back-up. In districts where a larger swat team is required, two SWAT teams could be posted.
Additional director general of police (ADG) law and order and crime, Arun Kumar, the brain behind the exercise,
said "this will help the district police to handle crises situations independently and at their own convenience and need". "These SWAT teams will include some of the most agile, physically fit and excellent sharp-shooters available with the district police who will undergo commando training and will have to pass regular tests to ensure that their fitness levels and capabilities are in place and effective," Arun Kumar said.
In the absence of any spare manpower for the allocation, the districts will initially start with SWAT teams selected from the manpower available with the district police force.
The SIs and HCs for the SWAT team will not be above 40 years of age while the maximum age limit for the constables would be 35 years. The physical test will comprise 100 meter sprint in 14 seconds and excellent aim with all the handguns, small and medium arms like pistol, revolver, 303 rifles, self-loading rifles (SLRs), AK series and Insas rifles apart from a good degree of knowledge of man-to-man combat and handling primary medical emergencies.
Though the idea for the SWAT teams was mooted almost six months ago by the ADG, the proposal got moving only after the police gunner of a deputy superintendent of police (DySP) in Saharanpur fell prey to bullets fired by miscreants. When the entire sequence of events was assessed to determine what went wrong and where, the SWAT team proposal gathered momentum and was finally cleared, in principal, by the state government.
Inspector General (IG) Crime RK Vishwakarma said: "In the absence of accurate intelligence inputs, police raids often fail to deliver and the suspects slip away primarily due to lack of proper training and expertise in handling situations which may be slightly different from the routine ambush that the district police is familiar with." "Hence the concept of SWAT was mooted to deal with such specific crises and now that the government has approved the proposal in principal, such teams will be available at every district of the state," he added.
Clad in black uniforms, members of the SWAT will have their headgears (helmets or bullet-proof non-metallic covers) fitted with night vision devices and each one of them will be connected to each other by portable wireless sets which will be a part of the gear and will not have to be held in hand while using, as it restricts the use of hands of the individual using the system in the middle of an ambush.
"The SWAT members will be equipped with tactical equipment like assault rifles and Glock pistols. Invented by an engineer in Austria, Glock pistols have a special "ferrite nitro carburizing" inner layer to check corrosion of the inner surface of the pistol and barrel. This virtually wipes off the possibility of the bullet being blocked inside the chamber even when the firing is required to be done for sustained periods. This is one of the most common problems that come up when cops use the traditional handguns to fire many bullets successively for a longer period," Arun Kumar said. The SWAT teams will also be equipped with stun grenades, tactical lights, laser-fitted aiming devices with night vision options and daggers. Their uniforms will have bullet proof pads to cover the vital parts of the human body, during live exchange of firepower or explosives," Arun Kumar said.