Protest shield: Kolkata Police gets 500 more body suits | Kolkata News – Times of India

0
50

[google-translator]

KOLKATA: Recent protests on city streets have forced Kolkata Police – for the second time in successive years – to purchase a large number of riot gear for its force.
The decision, coming after the clash between cops and supporters of a political party a couple of weeks ago that left 18 police personnel injured, will see cops purchase 500 more body protector jackets along with shoulder pad, groin guards, forearm and shin guards, around 1,000 polycarbonate batons and 500 polycarbonate shields.

Suits

Total cost of the equipment is around Rs 29-Rs 30 lakh. Senior officers said they wanted men managing the first few lines of police barricade during protests to don full riot gear to avoid injuries. Besides the armed police and RAF, Lalbazar plans to distribute these equipment at the divisions (especially central, south and north divisions), too.
Cops hope to finish the technical demonstration by the end of next month. These new riot gears, claimed sources, will be tailor made to suit the hot and humid conditions here. “The full gear with arm guards and shin guards weigh around 2.5kg, down from the 3.3kg procured last year, given these equipment need to be light to handle riot situations. The harness ten to twelve inches will be made of engineering grade polycarbonate with a thickness of 3.5mm-4mm and should provide excellent protection against brick batting, stone pelting, iron rod/cane impact,” the tender document read.
According to sources, most cops receive injuries when protesters throw stones at them. Even though a section of cops is given ballistic helmets, most of them are not designed to take the impact of heavy stones. They only protect the face and head from close range attacks with sticks or batons. According to cops, a bulk of the body protectors used by police across the country is archaic and of little help when attacked on the side. “Moreover, they are often bulky to wear,” said an officer who was deputed at Esplanade‘s RR Avenue during a recent political protest.
While Kolkata Police has discarded wooden sticks for polycarbonate canes and shields, it still makes do with outdated body protectors and cricket helmets in major law and order situations which need a high number of deployments and basic knee and elbow pads.
Police have been planning purchase of advanced riot control tools, but have been unable to experiment with modern equipment due to funds crunch.

Source link

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here