Soon, IPS recruits to get foreign training

Indian Police Service (IPS) officers may soon be sent on foreign visits to create an open mind before they hit the streets.

Indian Police Service (IPS) officers may soon be sent on foreign visits to create an open mind before they hit the streets.

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The home ministry is considering a plan to send IPS trainees on foreign visits to developed countries such as Japan, Singapore and Australia as part of their induction training.

This is the first time that freshly-inducted government officials are proposed to be sent on foreign exposure visits.

If cleared, other services including the elite Indian Administrative Services — which have captured all important policy-making positions in the government — could also demand similar exposure visits.

“It is a globalised world, the police too need to keep pace with good practices followed worldwide,” VN Rai, director of the Hyderabad-based SVP National Police Academy told HT. Rai had mooted the proposal in May this year.

“The idea is to expose the police officers right at the beginning of their career to models that they can be emulate,” he added. The fact that the study tour would form part of their two-year training — where their performance goes into determining their ranking — would ensure that the 10-day tour is not treated as a junket.

Police officers said a foreign exposure visit right at the beginning of their career could do wonders by raising the aspirational levels of young officers to deliver similar policing standards back home.

“By that time, most officers near the end of their tenure as district superintendent of police and are ready to be promoted to the supervisory level,” a senior police officer said.