Ramavarmapuram: The women cadets at the Ramavarmapuram police training academy are busy facing a march which turned violent. As the protestors chanting slogans against the police force charged forward, a group of women police officers clad in their Khakee uniforms, wielding lathies, got ready to take on the protestors.
However, the protestors here too are police officers and this drill was part of their training session. They are taught about the various procedures to be followed before a lathy charge, and how to move forward cautiously holding a lathy.
The basic training of the first batch of the women police battalion with Thiruvananthapuram as the centre takes place at the police academy. Out of the 578 members in the battalion, 44 are trained to become special women commandos. The passing out parade of this battalion would take place on 30 July at 7 am in the academy premises.
The women in this batch got admitted in the academy in last September and have successfully completed 9 months of rigorous training. They are also trained in swimming and driving, besides acquiring special skills in effectively dealing with cyber crimes. The training sessions are carried out under the supervision of DIG Anoop Kuruvila John with instructions from ADGP Dr B Sandhya. The training is headed by assistant director PS Gopi, SP Reji Jacob, and police science assistant director KK Aji.
348 women in the battalion are aged between 25 and 30, while 100 are between 30 and 35 years of age. Those who are below 25 years would comprise up to 130.
The women commandos are trained in modern weaponry including AK 47. They are required to ready a gun in 45 seconds with blindfolds on. They are trained at night firing and rescuing a kidnapped person by storming a building. The women commandos are trained under the supervision of Kerala police commando S Manikandan who had been trained by the NSG and Thunderbolt assistant commandant L Solomon.
