Ludhiana: DGP bats for more operational roles for women cops

Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav exhorted police officials to bring sensitivity to their dealings not only with women but with all complainants who come to police stations with problems

Women cops must now go beyond the traditional roles of dealing with women-specific issues and be integrated into the force to bring about equality in real terms, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Tuesday.

Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav and special DGP (community affairs division) Gurpreet Kaur Deo felicitating a participant during a training programme under the gender sensitisation project ‘Mainstreaming of Women at the Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Inaugurating the three-day Round-III training programme under the gender sensitisation project, themed ‘Mainstreaming of Women in Punjab Police’, at the historic 134-year-old Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur, the DGP said the Punjab Police was moving towards realising gender equality in the force structure by taking women’s representation beyond the hitherto women-specific roles.

Women, he said, made up 11.5% of the force, which was roughly around 9,000 personnel. “The number is coming up due to 33% reservation for women in recruitment. We want to change the culture of the organisation where both men and women can serve together as a team,” he noted.

Yadav emphasised the requirement of citizen-centric policing in the 21st century. He exhorted police officials to bring sensitivity to their dealings not only with women but with all complainants who come to police stations with problems.

“Women should not be confined only to routine duties. They should be assigned operational roles in dealing with crimes, intelligence and law & order,” he said.

The initiative is an impact assessment training programme aimed at evaluating the effect of gender-sensitive training on officials posted at police stations across the state. It covers 384 police stations, of which 288 (75%) are undergoing training while 96 (25%) serve as a control group without training. Around 2,000 police officials are being trained under this initiative.

He also launched the online digital verification facility on the Saanjh platform for the Ministry of Defence, which has reduced the time for verifying newly recruited defence personnel, he said.

Earlier, the DGP welcomed the lead trainers, Meera Chadha Borwankar, retired DGP of Maharashtra cadre, and RC Singh, retired DGP of Punjab cadre.