18 Pune cops complete special training on making sketches of suspects

While performing their regular duties during the Covid-19 pandemic, as many as 18 police personnel from different establishments in Pune took a special course in preparing sketches of suspects at the ‘Portrait Building Section’, a special wing launched by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police.

The then director general of police Subodh Jaiswal had, on July 6, 2020, inaugurated the Portrait Building Section set up on the premises of the state CID headquarters in Pune. The course aimed to tap the drawing skill of police personnel and use it in crime detection by training them in preparing sketches of suspects.

Prof Girish Charwad, who holds a PhD in ‘Contribution of sketching in crime investigation’ and who has been preparing sketches of suspects for the police department for the last 27 years, was appointed as a key trainer for the course.

Along with CID officials, Charwad designed a basic portrait-making course and advanced courses for the cops. A memorandum of understanding was signed between CID and the Savitribai Phule Pune University. Police personnel who completed the advanced portrait- making courses were given certificates by the SPPU.

“Accordingly, two cops from Pune Rural Police, five from Pune City Police, 10 from CID and one from the Centre for Police Research were trained for 275 hours across 55 days during the advanced portrait making course. They completed the course while performing their regular duties in times of Covid-19,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Anuja Deshmane.

The police personnel were trained in preparing portraits of wanted accused and making sketches from blurry images of suspects seen in CCTV footage. Towards the end of the course, a test was conducted and sketches drawn by the 18 police personnel were checked by experts such as artist Sameer Dharmadhikari and graphic designer Nupur Mohankar.

After completing the course, the 18 cops were given SPPU certificates on May 21 in the presence of Vice-Chancellor Nitin Karmalkar and state CID chief Atulcharndra Kulkarni, among others.

According to a press release by the CID, 83 police personnel had given their names for the portrait-making course. “The CID will conduct more such portrait-making courses for cops in the future,” it stated.

CID chief Atulchandra Kulkarni said, “The number of serious crimes is huge and expert sketch artists are very few. We have a police force of about 2.25 lakh. If training on portrait-making is given to police personnel who have drawing skills, they would be of great help for detection of crimes… This is the first-of-its-kind activity by any state police agency. Only the National Crime Records Bureau has such a wing.”

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