Misconduct claims: West Bengal Police start training for civic volunteers

Kolkata, Nov 25 The West Bengal Police has kicked off training civic volunteers across the state on how to conduct themselves in public.

Sources in the West Bengal Police said on Tuesday that civic volunteers were being taught what to do, especially what not to do, while assisting police officers.

Training has already started at four places in Barrackpore of North 24 Parganas district for civic volunteers working under various police districts and commissionerates of Howrah, North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas districts.

Training for Nadia and Murshidabad will be given at the 9th Battalion of the Armed Police in Krishnanagar.

Meanwhile, civic volunteers in Malda, South Dinajpur, Raiganj and Islampur district police will be trained in Raiganj of North Dinajpur district.

Civic volunteers in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts will be trained in the 12th battalion in Jalpaiguri.

Civic volunteers under the Siliguri Commissionerate and the Kalimpong district police will be trained in Dabgram.

The training of the civic officers of Darjeeling will be held at the second battalion of the RAF in Siliguri.

Civic volunteers, also known as village police volunteers, are contractual workers who assist the West Bengal Police, primarily in traffic management and minor duties. They are recruited from local communities and are not regular police employees.

Over the years, civic volunteers faced criticism for alleged lapses in recruitment, misconduct, and even engaging in criminal activities.

In a bid to prevent civic volunteers from further misconduct, especially ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, the state police decided to train them.

They have to undergo this training for five days.

The ADG (Training) of the state police has sent a message regarding the training to the Superintendents of Police and Police Commissioners of all the districts.

The message also clearly said how many civic officers from each district or commissionerate will be sent for training.

In total, more than 8,000 civic officers will be trained in this phase from north to south Bengal.

Currently, civic volunteers under the Kolkata Police will not be trained.

Along with physical exercise training, they are mainly given lessons in law.

They were being taught how to behave with common citizens, and when standing in front of a high-ranking police officer.

According to sources, it is being repeatedly clarified that under no circumstances, ordinary people, pedestrians or drivers be mistreated.

In the past, such training was given sporadically in some police stations. However, such an initiative was not undertaken across the state.

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