UP ATS To Raise All-Women Squad Soon; To Be Called 'Special Police Operation Team'

In a first of its kind, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (UP ATS) will raise an all-women police squad. One unit would have 58 personnel including a dog squad, a bomb disposal squad and a wireless trapping unit.

The squad will be called Special Police Operation Team (SPOT).

A senior officer at UP ATS said that a proposal has been sent to the government for approval and budgeting after discussion with the Home Department officials.

A specialised unit trained to tackle anti-hijacking and counter-insurgency operations like terror attacks, SPOT will have a batch of commandos trained by expert trainers of BSF, CISF, ITBP and other paramilitary forces.

The officer said that the idea for a women squad was based on increasing representation of women at workplaces and their deployment at sensitive locations.

ATS Inspector General G.K. Goswami said that SPOT would also perform security surveys in peacetime and train special weapons advanced tactics teams of district police.

SPOT is a specialized unit of ATS. The first unit raised in 2018 comprised men only. SPOT has an exclusive training centre in Sarojini Nagar in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, on the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the process to raise three all-women battalions had also begun.

ADG, law and order, Prashant Kumar said that a proposal has been sent to the government to raise more units of SPOT in Varanasi, Agra, Kheri, and Shravasti.