Govt commissions study on police procedures for crowd control

An increasing number of instances of people being killed during police action to control agitations in various states has led to the study being authorised by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), a department under the Union Home Ministry.

The study will look into development of best practices in the subject and will be carried out by a Gurgaon-based private organisation, an official said.

A report is expected to be submitted by October this year to the BPRD which will subsequently submit it to the Ministry.

"The study has been constituted with the basic aim that all police forces should deal with the agitators with minimum force resulting in least casualty. The recommendations of the study will be submitted to the Union Home Ministry and subsequently circulated amongst all the states," the official said.

The study has been initiated on the directions of BPRD Director General K N Sharma whose department is the nodal agency for bringing in the best practices and technology in matters related to functioning of police and security forces.

"The study aims at identifying non-lethal weapons/ munitions being used by various police forces in the country, shortfalls in current equipment, reasons and solutions with a specific focus on primary research. The efficacy of equipment in the field would be studied and the need assessment of various non-lethal weapons (NLWs) to be inducted in various states would be carried out," the official said. (More)