The two-day weapon and combat workshop was held at the Bhatwadi police firing range in Ghatkopar and was attended by over 140 personnel from across all police ranks. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor, who has been instrumental in inviting Hong Kong-based John Greene, a former Special Air Services Regiment (SAS) agent, for the training, said that it is essentially an attempt to upgrade the force. “Though such programmes have been held earlier, this time its necessity has been taken more seriously owing to the terror attacks. The programme touched upon the simple and complicated aspects related to the field operations — right from how to operate an AK-47 to searching a room,” Gafoor said.

Greene has visited the city on Gafoor’s insistence earlier also and conducted workshops with several batches of police personnel including the Quick Response Team of the Anti-Terrorism Squad. “This is the fourth time we are conducting such a programme. In fact, the last one was organised in November last year by Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte himself,” Gafoor said. (Kamte was later killed in the 26/11 terrorist attacks).

Additional Commissioner of Police (Local Arms Unit) R E Pawar, who had organised the workshop on Gafoor’s directive, said that young, enterprising and enthusiastic personnel were chosen from police stations across the city to participate in the programme. They underwent training in two batches in sessions held on January 6 and 8. “The need of the hour is to equip our young policemen with skills to combat any situation whenever it arises. The training involved firing practice with AK-47s and tips on how to aim at the target accurately by using the M Point. Besides, they were given pointers on how to conduct nakabandis and search operations. The idea was to train them on how to protect themselves first and then go on to neutralise the target,” Pawar said.