Visitors at Rashtrapati Bhavan to be greeted by well groomed cops of Delhi Police

For the first time ever, a batch of more than 40 Delhi Police personnel of Rashtrapati Bhavan was trained in soft skills at ifly Learning Academy IndiGo, in Gurgaon.

Graceful Gajendra, Remarkable Roma, Nice Nirmala — these are the new names that Delhi Police cops, stationed at Rashtrapati Bhavan, have acquired. After a week-long training in soft skills, these constables, sans their uniforms, appear smart and welcoming. From the way they walk and talk, there is a drastic behavioural change in them.

“Being the Capital Police, we have more responsibility. Rashtrapati Bhavan is the White House of our country. So, the training given to the cops was essential as they are the ones who first encounter the delegates [from abroad, and other cities]. I believe, it’s the new era of soft skills training,” says Robin Hibu, Special Commissioner of Police, Rashtrapati Bhavan.

“These constables reflect the image of our country. It was a very different experience to teach cops about soft skills. We shared their personal problems and discussed solutions with them, and tried to make a change in their behaviour.” — Rishek Harikant, manager, soft skills training

The formal training of the cops took place at ifly Learning Academy IndiGo, which involved teaching the constables how to deal with public in a polite manner. “These constables reflect the image of our country. Two things worked for us while training them. One was to ‘connect’, and the other was ‘walk the talk’. It was a very different experience to teach cops about soft skills. All of them said ki hum aapke chehre yaad karte hai aur hamare face pe smile aa jati hai (All of them said ‘Recalling your faces brings a smile on our ours’). We shared their personal problems and discussed solutions with them, and tried to make a change in their behaviour,” says Rishek Harikant, manager, soft skills training.

The constables, on the other hand, believe that each cop in Delhi Police should be a part of this training. “Such training should be organised more often. We feel distressed, and [the training] worked as a detox for us. This has happened for the first time, and I feel so confident and good,” says Anil Kumar, head constable.

Sharing similar sentiment, ASI Neeru says, “The training has changed the way we look at ourselves. Before this, we took our work as a part of our job, but now I feel a sense of pride and responsibility. The entire police force should go through this training to learn and unlearn something.”