State plans special weapons team to tackle emergencies

To ensure better security and counter all kinds of attacks, the State government will create a District Special Weapons and Tactics Team (D-SWAT) comprising 24 personnel in each district.

The team members will be trained on a par with the National Security Guards.

The State police on Tuesday launched a training programme for D-SWAT members, which was inaugurated by Home Minister K J George at the Centre for Counter-Terrorism (CCT).

The training-of-trainers programmes will be conducted for personnel in the rank of probationary sub-inspectors from the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force, DySPs of the State police and staff from various security forces at CCT.

The training will be conducted by the Garuda Force launched in 2011 to provide immediate backup support for sensitive events such as Mysore Dasara, international cricket matches and others.

George said D-SWAT was being created to safeguard society and protect civilians from attacks. The force will help in combating emergency situations.

D-SWAT will be monitored by the District Superintendent of Police.

It will be equipped with advanced weapons.

It will undergo rigorous commando training at CCT for over three months, and trained to be physically and mentally fit to tackle any kind of dangerous situation.

The first 42 men, picked up from various districts and other forces, will be trained under the training-for-trainers programme.

Thereafter, they will take charge of D-SWAT teams in their respective districts, an official said.

“We are aiming at training 2,000 personnel in two years,” he said.

George said the government was also planning to set up a disaster management centre in the heart of the City.

This will be linked to all district and taluk headquarters to help officials sit in a single room and take stock of a prevailing emergency situation, he said.

Internal Security Division officials said another campus was under construction for the Garuda Force and the CCT at Agara on Kanakapura Road in Bangalore.