Mumbai police given defective equipment last week

"All those interviewed said that the issue was not money: the Government allocated £154 million for modernising the police in 2007-08 alone. The problem, they said, lay with the Home Ministry’s procurement system,

• which is dominated by corrupt bureaucrats and politicians

• rather than technical experts.

“It’s a cartel,” Mr Singh said. “The Government is spending millions, but the police isn’t getting the equipment it needs.”...

• Indian police who bore the brunt of last week’s attacks on Mumbai had
• defective bulletproof vests, First World War-era firearms and
• insufficient weapons training, police sources have told The Times.

Many wore plastic helmets and body protectors designed for sticks and stones, rather than bullets, as they fought highly trained militants armed with AK47 rifles, pistols, grenades and explosives....

• Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, has one of India’s better police forces, but even it is

• woefully ill-equipped because of a centralised and

• highly corrupt procurement system.

Y. P. Singh, who retired after 20 years in the Maharashtra police in 2005, said that he knew of two batches of body armour

• that had failed tests in 2001 and 2004....“The bullets pierced the jackets.”

He now believes that the Maharashtra police

• purchased the defective vests and issued them

• to officers last week....

“The helmets used last week were World War Two-era, not designed for combat,” he said....

Some officers said that they were not given enough weapons training because of a shortage of ammunition and shooting ranges....

• All those interviewed said that the issue was not money: the Government allocated £154 million for modernising the police in 2007-08 alone. The problem, they said, lay with the Home Ministry’s procurement system, which is dominated by corrupt bureaucrats and politicians rather than technical experts.

“It’s a cartel,” Mr Singh said. “The Government is spending millions, but the police isn’t getting the equipment it needs.”" from TimesOnlineUK.com, "Outgunned Mumbai Police Hampered by First World War Weapons'' via Lucianne.com

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