The Rapid Action Force (RAF) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Saturday shared its expertise with local policemen on dealing with riot-like situations as well as crowd control management.
Around 250 police personnel of Puducherry on Saturday picked up vital tips from a visiting RAF platoon from Coimbatore.
The use of anti-riot gun, anti-riot gas gun, riot control vehicle, body protector and other ammunitions were explained to the local police personnel.
M. Ramadass, Assistant Commandant of RAF, said the police should first pacify the mob in a peaceful manner, and only if they refused to disperse, should water cannon be used. Lathi charge should be the next line of deterrence. Bursting tear gas shells should be the last resort.
Familiarisation exercisesAs part of intensive familiarisation exercises, the RAF undertakes visits to communally sensitive areas to familiarise themselves with the area.
P.S. Sunilkumar, Deputy Commandant, RAF, told The Hindu that the aim of familiarisation exercises was to give orientation to local police on riot control measures.
During this exercise, the special wing would collect data about sensitive areas in various States as per reports of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
“We will gather information such as communal situation in the area, political situation, previous incidents of communal clashes or any other and order problems and modus operandi of agitators,” he said.
The RAF companies in Coimbatore have been deployed for crowd control at Dasara festival in Mysore and to control mob during the Telangana stir.
J.Raja Kirubakaran, Superintendent of Police (Puducherry Armed Police), said this kind of exercise would be useful to police as Puducherry frequently witnessed caste clashes in some areas as well as clashes between fishermen.
The RAF unit at Coimbatore has control over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala.
