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Traffic police under stress, they need sensitisation training

The incident in Malad, though instructions were given to all the traffic senior police officers to brief their staff on how to behave with citizens and how to deal with women and minors

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Screen grabs from the video that went viral showing a woman with her baby in the car while it was being towed by the traffic police in Malad
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The Maharashtra State Commission for Woman (MSCW) will be approaching the Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) for discussions on the sensitisation programmes to be conducted for policemen in the state.

Against the backdrop of the recent incident in Malad, wherein a car was towed away by the traffic police while a woman was breastfeeding her 7-month-old child inside it, the MSCW is going to have discussions on the sensitisation and training programmes planned for the policemen in the meeting with DGP Satish Mathur.

The Mumbai traffic police department is preparing to deal with the Malad incident-like situations in the future and brainstorming on what measures could be taken to ensure that traffic policemen on the road do not behave in a callous manner with citizens, especially women.

After the incident in Malad, though instructions were given to all the traffic senior police officers to brief their staff on how to behave with citizens and how to deal with women and minors, the Commission believes that not only in Mumbai but the sensitisation programme is needed for all policemen across the state.

"The police needs to be sensitised on a regular basis, in past meetings with DGP too we had discussed this issue. Now after this incident of Malad, we will be again requesting the Maharashtra DG to start the programme. The police should be sensitive while interacting with women and minors. To conduct the training and sensitisation programmes, the commission will extend its support. 

The policemen in the state are under tremendous pressure and stress, hence they are in need of such sessions," said the Commission's Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar.

A monthly board meeting is conducted by the Commission wherein several issues related to women and minors are discussed. Mathur is also a member of the commission.

After the incident at Malad, the Commission had taken the cognisance and had sent a letter to traffic police asking to send them a report on what action has been taken against the policemen and what had triggered the argument.

While the police said that if needed, experts would be roped in to impart training to traffic policemen. It would be a regular training session.

'Personnel to be age, gender sensitised'

Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar talks about the sensitisation programmes planned for personnel from Mumbai's traffic police department.

What efforts are being taken for the sensitisation of traffic policemen?

We were already conducting training programmes for all the policemen in the department. Continuing with that, we will gradually add more important aspects.

What will the programme focus on?

The policemen will be taught how to interact professionally with citizens and tackle difficult situations. They will also be given gender and age sensitisation training. A standard operating procedure will be set up to deal with conflict situations.

Are any more efforts being made to reduce human intervention in traffic policing?

Efforts are being taken to reduce human intervention. We have already taken many initiatives.

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