After reviewing security threats and changing nature of crimes, the police had amended the existing security directives to come up with some innovative security plans to tackle the probable risks faced by VIPs and VVIPs.
In a month long training that completed on Monday, police officials criticized VIPs for not obeying their suggestions, according to DIG Nawaraj Silwal. Instead of following the security suggestions provided by their PSOs or security heads, most VIPs do as it pleases them, DIG Silwal said quoting the participants of the training.
Addressing the police personnel, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Bhisma Prasain said that the challenges against VIP security have been increasing in the recent years and the police have to handle all the challenges using existing tools and techniques.
According to the Police Headquarters, AIGP Prasain urged the police officials to strictly follow the skills and tactical tools learnt in the training to curve the probable risks. However, some police officials were not satisfied with the existing trend and raised serious concerns over the VIP´s awareness about security issues. Until and unless VIP´s are not aware about the complications of the security and cooperate with the security plans, it is very hard to tackle the situations, he added.
In the case of senior political figures, party cadres try to manage the security arrangement but when some incident happens, people are quick to blame the police, a police involved in the training said. They have also pointed out that the party cadres as a major source of security threat.
Supporting the police arguments, NC leader Gagan Thapa and UML leader Ghana Shyam Bhushal during the training session also said that top leaders were ignorant about the security suggestions. “Because of the lack cooperation between the security agencies we feel nervous about the safety of our party leaders during mass gatherings or when they are visiting some place outside the Valley,” they said.
Nepal Police has started providing orientation to Personal Security Officers (PSOs) deputed for VIPs and VVIPs. The police headquarter has also been collecting feedbacks from PSOs frequently in an attempt to correct lapses in the security of the political leaders as well as other VIPs.
The participants were also demanding modern tools and equipments in order to tackle the situations when deputed for the safety of VIPs or VVIPs.
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