The country's first university to train serving and future police officers in key areas like biological warfare and other possible forms of terror attacks will come up in the National Capital Region of Delhi.
The five-member high-power committee formed by the Union Home Ministry to prepare a detailed action plan for setting up the ambitious National Police University submitted its report last week and proposed NCR as the 'ideal location,' official sources said.
The university, conceived on the lines of the prestigious National Defence Academy, is aimed at addressing the fast-changing requirements in policing in view of the worsening internal security situation and lack of serious research and development work.
"We have proposed NCR as the location as the region can provide all the facilities. The government has approved it in principle and a formal clearance is expected to be given by the Cabinet soon and funds allocated after that," a senior official told PTI in New Delhi.
The institution will offer graduate, post graduate and PhD courses to civilians and serving police officers in a range of subjects like forensic science, biological warfare, criminal psychology, insurgency, public relations, human rights, man management and communal tension.
With naxalism, terrorism and other forms of insurgency on the rise, the government had embarked on a path for modernisation of police forces and setting up of the university at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore is part of the efforts.
At present, there is no serious research going on into the issues related to internal security whereas there are at least 40 laboratories and institutes in the country dealing with external security aspects.
"We are facing a low intensity conflict in the form of the frequent terror attacks. We need to address this issue in a holistic manner and the university will act a think-tank in this regard," the official said.
Experts are of the view that policing in India is not professional enough as an officer gets just six months of training before joining the force as compared to a doctor or a lawyer who studies subjects regarding his respective profession for three to five years.
Very few countries in the world, like the US, China, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, have police academies and government feels that the university will certainly bring in professionalism in the force, he said.
Research can also be carried out on improving the morale of the policemen, disaster management, redundant procedures and laws and the duration and nature of work of police personnel to make them stress-free.
The university will provide an opportunity for seasoned police officers to share their experiences with the new ones to enrich them intellectually to make them 'true professionals,' the official added.
