Cops need a firing range in district: SSP

Noida: The city police is planning to provide tactical training to its staff and refresh combating skills in the wake of the deaths of police officers in Mathura during an anti-encroachment drive. SSP Dharmendra Singh on Friday said the police department will also seek to establish a firing range in the district to improve the shooting skills of police personnel. "The police personnel will be refreshed with technical skills," he said."The personnel need some extra tactical training. There are a few shooting ranges available in the region. One range is in Saharanpur, which belongs to the Army and there is another one in Meerut. We have to seek their permission to conduct training exercises for our personnel but it is not feasible for the entire district police to visit another city for training," said Singh.Due to lack of firing ranges in the region, the officers are not undergoing the mandatory yearly shooting training sessions.In last two years, three district police officers have lost their lives in separate gun battles with suspects. On Thursday evening, Mathura SP Mukul Diwedi and station in charge of Farah police station Santosh Yadav were shot dead during an anti-encroachment drive at Jawahar Park. Twenty two rioters were also killed in the firing.Akhtar Khan, a sub inspector and in-charge of Kot police post in Dadri, was shot dead during a raid at the hideout of suspects of armed robbery at Nai Abadi in Dadri on April 26.In February last year, Harender Nagar, headman of Dadupur village, and his personal security officer, constable Bhudev Sharma, were shot dead by half a dozen assailants in Greater Noida. Sharma had killed one of the attackers, who was later identified as Nitin Khatri a resident of Narela in Delhi, before he succumbed to his injuries. In July 2015, six members of the Anil Dujana gang shot dead Rajkumar Sharma, a retired engineer from the electricity department, and constable Nitin Verma, one of the six constables deployed at Sharma's house in Junpat village for his protection.Singh said Noida police will be trained to deal with such situations. "We will ensure that every time the officers conduct a raid, they carry adequate arms and safety gear," he said.