Kochi: The Kerala Coastal Police, a wing of the Kerala police tasked with policing duties on the state’s territorial waters, has suffered a major embarrassment with 25 per cent of its serving officials failing in a swimming test.
The test revealed that some of the officials in the unit were yet to learn to swim while a few others were unable to finish a distance of 50 meters in two minutes.
The swimming test for coastal police was introduced by Assistant Inspector General G Poonguzhali, who recently took charge as head of the unit. As many as 580 officials in the unit had attended the swimming test, held earlier this month.
For those who failed the test, the department has launched a 21-day long training class led by expert swimmers. Those completing the first session will be imparted an advanced level of training from February 26 onwards. This session will comprise classes on scuba diving and lessons on search and rescue operations in water.
Meanwhile, plans are also afoot to impart the Coastal police officers training in rescue operations in association with the Indian Navy from March 15 onwards. According to Poonguzhali, this was the first time that the Indian Navy would be offering such training to any state police unit in the country.
