Old is Not Gold

Almost 16 years since the launch of an ambitious Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) scheme by the Central Government to gradually reduce the dependence of state governments on the Army and the Central Armed Police Forces to control internal security and law and order issues, nothing much has changed on the ground. The state police continue to be poorly funded, carry on with the weapons that have long been dumped by developed nations and depend on technology that is crippled by lack of funds for upgradation. 

With the Central Government cutting down the fund allocation under MPF schemes and the state government spending most of the funds for vehicle purchases and police station upgradation, no ground- breaking development has taken place as part of the scheme in Tamil Nadu. Except for the purchase of AK 47 assault rifles and some latest Glock pistols for officials, a large portion of the force continues to use the weary Browning pistols, .303 Lee-Enfield rifles and Self-Loading Rifles (SLRs). 

Tamil Nadu Commando force, the elite force of the state police are the fortunate ones to get their hands on the AK- 47 assault rifles and Belgian FN FAL semi-automatic battle rifles. Many more modern weaponry were assured to the force, including a modern uniform with bulletproof jackets, helmets, night vision equipment and body protectors. However, none of this really reached the force. Most of the door frame metal detectors and hand-held metal detectors are not functional and there has not been any new purchases. Similarly, no new bomb-vest procurement has been done for the bomb detection and disposal squad. 

The Chennai City Police are now planning to introduce the digital Apco-25 communication equipment and slowly phasing out the old VHF handsets. The flipside is that these overused handsets will be sent to the district police forces, who are not fortunate to have the kind of attention that the Chennai City Police demands. 

State police also lack modern tools in the intervention and investigation side. The technologies used in cyber labs in the state used to be state- of- the- art ones, but due to poor management and lack of funding for upgradation, these systems have become nearly redundant. According to sources, the cyber police officials are forced to plead with private cyber firms to help them retrieve data during the investigation of complicated cases. The indifference at the higher levels of the state authorities is such that even in Chennai, the state’s capital, the cyber lab does not even have a dedicated internet connection. Also, Radiant Purple, Tricon, Spectran and Tower Dump Analysis tools are some of the main tools used by the cyber lab in Chennai. But due to lack of upgradation, these tools are of no great use to the wing, sources added. 

“There had been lot of promises regarding procurement of latest weapons and equipment as part of MPF. However, what Tamil Nadu got was a raw deal and whatever money that had come as part of MPF, was mostly used for vehicle purchases and police station upgradation,” a senior police official said. Chennai city could be the only metropolitan city in the country to not have a CCTV surveillance system for traffic and law and order management. In 2015, the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had announced that Rs.100 crores would be spent on modernising of the police force. Sources said the announcement has not been fulfilled and no new purchases have been made so far. Jayalalithaa had assured there would be purchase of explosive vapour detectors, X-Ray baggage scanners, deep search mine detectors, bullet proof jackets and helmets, third generation night vision binoculars and life jackets for marine cops. Sources said no such new products have been supplied to the police force  till date.

Weapons currently in use of TN force

.303  Lee-Enfield rifle:  A British rifle first produced in 1895 and last upgraded in 1965

Ishapore 2 A 1 rifle: A rifle designed at the Ishapore rifle factory and the ordnance factories in India during the 1962 Sino-Indian war

L1A1 Self Loading Rifle (SLR): Though introduced in 1950s, there has been regular upgrades of this model and now, fully automatic models are also available 

AK-47: One of the most  advanced assault rifles in the world.  Developed in Russia in 1949, it is one of the most preferred combat rifles in the world. Several upgrades have come but what’s available here is the AK-47 version

FN FAL: The Belgian battle rifle first came into service in 1958 and with latest upgrades continues to be one of the most preferred battle rifles across the world

Insas rifle: Probably the latest weapon, mostly used by the TN Commandos and STF. It is a light machine gun. However, it had several reliability issues and the Indian government replaced Insas, which is being produced at the Tiruchy Ordnance factory, with AK-47s in 2015.

Glock pistol: A comparatively modern pistol developed by the Austrian manufacturer and in use since 1982. Some fortunate officials in Chennai City Police have got the Glock pistols

Motorolla Very High Frequency handsets:  Generations- old static communication aids that perform better while in closer range to the repeators, but the city has only two of them

Mobile handsets: The state police consider mobile phones to be more effective in quick communication and have provided CUG numbers to all police stations and police personnel