Police shifting focus of training to lower ranks

Senior personnel corner over 72 percent of training provided

KATHMANDU, July 19: With senior Nepal Police personnel cornering the lion's share of the training provided and the huge numbers of rank and file sidelined, the National Police Academy (NPA) has now come up with a new training module to shift the focus of training to the lower ranks.

Of the total of 72,000 personnel in the force, over 93 percent comprising sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors and head cconstables receive only 28 percent of the training provided every year. The rests of the training goes to personnel of the rank of inspector and above, who make up only 7 percent of the total force.

Nepal Police Academy (NPA), which is responsible for developing professional competence, carruying the training courses through and striving towards academic excellence, is also considered a pillar of the institutional effort to build a constructive image of the police in society.

“Because of lack of effective training policies, an evaluation module and specializations based on practices, the investment in training has been like pouring water in sand,” said AIG Surendra Bahadur Shah, executive director of NPA.

The academy has designed an action plan titled 'Shifting the Focus of Training (ShiFT) on the basis of discussions among the police and experts concerned within and outside the institution. The action plan has been implemented from the new fiscal year.

While maintaining law and order in the country, there exists a huge gap between the expectations of the people and the service delivery, IGP Upendra Kanta Aryal said, citing the need for shifting the focus of the training to the lower ranks, who are the first responders to the public.

“If the new action plan on training module is implemented effectively, it is certain there will be huge progress in service delivery within one year,” Aryal claimed while launching the action plan at the NPA office at Maharajgunj, Monday.

NPA, which is struggling to maintain international standards in the police, expects that over 12,152 personnel will be trained in crime investigation, operations and management in fiscal year 2073/074. This figure was just 5,466 last fiscal year. The three-year action plan estimates that over 80,348 junior policemen will be trained during that period.

While conducting training based on a four-level manual focused mainly on the rank and file, NPA expects to establish 35 training centers. The existing training centres number 10.

In the course of the training, NPA will initiate new scientific methods, make advanced technological adaptations, provide on the job training with audio-visuals, and also provide mobile training as and when required to minimize costs and time spent.

Meanwhile, NPA has also proposed amendments in the grading system to discourage the existing non-scientific system for evaluating the training, officials said. The lower ranked personnel from remote districts will get credit for training they receive back in the districts, they also said.

Under the existing training module, it will take at least 20 years for a junior policeman to complete all the trainings enlisted in the manual.

An estimated budget of Rs 500 million is needed for implementing the action plan in the first year alone. Of this, the government has already allocated Rs 250 million.