Highly placed sources in the state police said 60 young officers had been selected for training by the six-member team from Security and Protection Training School, Israel, which is coming on September 20. The two-and-half-month training will be carried out at the Bahadurgarh Fort near Patiala, where the training centre of Punjab Commandos is located.
'The state police is spending around Rs 1.15 crore for this training of the first batch of SSG recruits,' said a senior officer.
Sources said the SSG would have two components — the Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team that will deal with anti-terrorist operations and the SSG team that will be for the chief minister’s security. Of the 60 selected police personnel, 40 will be selected for final training. The best of ten will be selected as trainers and the rest will form the first SWAT team. These ten trainers will further train the rest 480 personnel to be selected later and also the 900-odd police personnel deployed for the CM’s security.
The training wing of the state police had earlier finalised a Delhi-based firm, Ultimate Tactical Private Limited, to impart training to the first batch of SSG. This firm has a tie-up with the Security and Protection Training School, Israel.
'We have selected the personnel who are mentally tough, can handle difficult situations and also have good physical fitness. The training will start on September 20,' said Sanjeev Kalra, Inspector General of Police (SSG).
'The state police is not giving any monetary incentive to the personnel joining the SWAT or SSG teams,' said an officer." (source)
