ONGOLE: The Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, a first of its kind initiative in the State, was launched in Prakasam district on Thursday. In all, 26 personnel selected for the special police wing have received rigorous training under the supervision of SP Siddharth Kaushal in handling heavy weapons, bomb detection and disposal, hand-to-hand combat and mob control, among others, over the past four months.
The pilot programme was launched in the presence of Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang, SP Kaushal and District Collector Pola Bhaskar at the Police Parade Grounds. “Prakasam district police have given an excellent start to a new initiative that will be implemented in other districts of the State soon. They should be considered as role models. I congratulate the entire Prakasam SWAT team and SP Siddharth Kaushal, who conceptualised the new wing, for their relentless efforts to boost security,” the DGP said.
The SWAT team enthralled the audience by demonstrating skills essential for tackling terrorist attacks, weapon assembly, control of violent mob and the likes. Later, the DGP presented certificates of merit to the SWAT personnel and their coaches.
“The training regime set for the SWAT team is similar to that of NSG and OCTOPUS wings so that the personnel can effectively control violent situations in urban and rural areas,” the SP said.
Personnel of the special wing were trained by Armed Reserve DSP A Raghavendra Rao, RI U Nageswara Rao and OCTOPUS instructors A Papa Rao and N Srinivasulu at the police training centre in the city. DSPs, CIs, RIs and SIs also took part in the programme.