Police training centres without proper security arrangements

 Four training centres situated on city’s outskirts, have decrepit boundary walls 
* Thokar Niaz Baig centre has two policemen protecting 500 unarmed trainee traffic wardens 
* No CCTV, entry register at Bedian training centre for Elite Force

By Abdul Manan

LAHORE: The police training centres of the city do not have proper security arrangements, sources in the Police Department told Daily Times on Monday.

Apart from the Police Training School (PTS) at Chuhng, the other four police training centres are established on the outskirts of the city, with only one boundary wall each and open fields on the other three sides. 

Outskirts: The training centres on the outskirts of the city include PTS Multan Road, LOS Traffic Warden Line at Thokar Niaz Baig, Bedian Police Training Centre and Police Training School Manawan on GT Road. The Thokar Niaz Baig centre is the training centre for refresher courses of the City Traffic Police. It is situated on an area of 30 acres, and around 500 wardens live on the campus. Sources in the centre told Daily Times the centre’s boundary wall was in dilapidated condition. 

Two policemen: They said only two policemen were deployed at the centre’s main gate, and they were given the task of protecting 500 unarmed wardens – with two old guns. They said barriers in deteriorated condition were placed at the main gate, which were not sufficient protection against any attacks. They said sometimes only one policeman was present at the gate. They said terrorists could easily target them in this ‘cage’. They said no register was kept at the entrance, and there was no record of visitors. 

The Bedian Training Centre is located some 5 kilometres from the Wagha border. It is situated on 350 acres, and has no boundary wall. Its building and training grounds cover around 13 acres. Around 1,000 Elite personnel get training at this centre. Besides the Elite Force personnel, the personnel of Punjab Police and patrolling police also get short-term training courses at this centre. Sources in the Bedian Training Centre told Daily Times they went through 16 hours of physical training at the centre, and some of them also had to perform the additional duty of guarding the centre at night. 

No camera, register: They said there was no surveillance camera or entrance register at the main gate. They said there was not even a map of the building in the training centre. They said an artificial thick forest surrounded the main gate, and there were no walls surrounding the centre. They said criminals could very easily hide themselves in the forest. 

The Police Training School Manawan, which is under construction, has been established in place of an old transport depot owned by the government. Some 1,000 Punjab Police personnel do their 9-month training at this centre. PTS Chuhng is one of the oldest police training institutions in Punjab. The school is supposed to accommodate some 860 trainees at a time. However, sources in the school said the actual number of trainees at the school was often much greater. An official of the school told Daily Times 10 trenches had been dug at the school to defend against any possible attack. He said a complete record of visitors was kept. 

Chief Traffic Officer Shariq Kamal Siddique told Daily Times he would enhance the security at the LOS Centre at Thokar Niaz Baig. Training Additional Inspector General of Police Abdul Ghaffar Mian told Daily Times he could not comment as he was busy at the Manawan training school.