Indian police join the neighbourhood beat

POLICE chiefs from India had a culture shock as they were given an insight into the daily life of Oldham officers.

Nine of the most senior leaders from India toured the borough, joining police officers on patrol and even having their DNA and fingerprints taken by PCs in Chadderton.

They were among 120 delegates visiting Greater Manchester Police (GMP) as part of a two-week visit to England.

Among them was Rajesh Gupta, the deputy inspector general of police in the central Madhya Pradesh state — the country’s second-largest state, boasting a population of over 60 million people.

He said: “It’s exciting to be here and see how different things are to at home. The level of recruitment is different, we work with a lot less members.

“The budget of GMP is massive, we only use about 25 per cent for areas the size of England.

“It’ll be good to see the technology and strategies used here to maybe help us when we return to India.”

The visitors were shown CID at Oldham as well as witnessing the role of response teams and learning about neighbourhood policing methods.

Oldham Chief Supt Tim Forber said: “It’s an honour to host delegates from India and we were keen to showcase the policing in Oldham. They were particularly interested in seeing how we police a diverse community and how neighbourhood policing is the bedrock of what we do.”