Training

Mumbai Tourism Police get a crash course in training

Neeti Mehra - Mumbai

In an attempt to give a friendly face to the Mumbai Police, 40 personnel of the Mumbai Tourism Police received a crash course in tourist handling and facilitation at the Kuoni Academy of Travel (KAT). The focus of the training was to sensitise the tourism police about the need to tackle problems faced by tourists in the commercial capital and imparting the means to do so. The programme entailed educating the police force on special needs of domestic and international tourists, destination welcome and customer care at various stages of tourist visits, nature of problems encountered by tourists, a complaint management system with practical tips for handling and resolving complaints, and highlighting the role of the police force in the dissemination of information.

Speaking to Express TravelWorld, A.N. Roy, Police Commissioner, Mumbai, said, "In a city like Mumbai where we have both international and domestic tourists visiting popular areas, it is imperative that the Tourism Police upgrade their skills and understand and anticipate tourist requirements, as they are the face of the police force to tourists. The Tourism Police are not a special cadre, but are drawn from the regular police force, and are facilitators who assist tourists in two aspects - one with respect to tourism enquiries, and secondly, regarding issues related to policing, such as theft, crime, etc," he continued. "We have approximately 80 tourism policemen who man seven key tourist areas in Mumbai including the airport, Chowpatty, Borivali National Park and the Gateway of India. In each of these places we have designated Tourist Police kiosks and jeeps." The Tourism Police force came into inception in 2001. These policemen are trained once a year, and get a refresher training every six months. Each tourism police is expected to complete a year in this role. Roy also stressed on the partnership between private parties and the police force as essential with regards to the matter of training. "The police force in general requires training in three aspects - professional, behavioral, and managerial. Whereas the former is conducted in house by our own personnel, for the latter we rely on private partnerships to impart professional training," he added.

A.K Bhatia, director of education, KAT, who conducted the first session, said, "With this training we aim to ingrain in the personnel the mantra of 'welcoming a visitor, sending back a friend,' and enabling visitors in Mumbai to have a quality experience as soon as they set foot in this city. This is imperative as according to figures available, 40 per cent of the tourists who travel to India visit Mumbai. By imparting international best practices in travel policing, it will raise tourist satisfaction, which is the best form of advertising for the state and the country. In addition, the role of the Tourism Police extends to assisting travellers and providing them information about the city, its culture and heritage." The jeeps were donated by KAT to the police force three years ago. The training module was interspersed with case studies based on real life situations and finally concluded with a field visit to the Gateway of India. Each policeman was handed a certificate at the end of this course.