Let's set the record straight. Our country needs a SWAT team. Simple! We need a SWAT Team.
India needs a SWAT Team!
No matter how many times you look at it, we desperately need a SWAT team.
In a city of 18+ Million people, we don't have a SWAT team? Most of the NSG Commandos are busy protecting politicians...what about the people of the country? We need to create a petition forcing the Indian Govt. to establish SWAT teams for the nations metropolitan cities.
We need:
1. A SWAT Team
2. Better equipment for all our police personnel.
3. Better arms and ammunitions
4. Better safeguarded vehicles
The terrorists who attacked Mumbai were laughing at the equipment and bullet-proof vests our police personnel had. Can we take this lightly? No. If we let the Govt. get away with this, we will really suffer major consequences.
India needs SWAT! Period!
Very disappointed,
Anup
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Mumbai Terrorist Attack: My Feedback
After what has been 2 days of intensive operation against the terrorists, things are finally coming to an end... They say that an end brings a new beginning and I think it is time we take steps that this new beginning is in the right direction.
Being here in the US, I can definitely tell you that I felt helpless watching the entire ordeal live on the internet. India is a very complicated state of affairs. With the constant manipulation by the politicians to its growing regionalism, it is taking a step that is exactly opposite to the direction we should be moving in. This post is not aimed towards those who manipulate the system and make it a joke.
I am proposing a platform to brainstorm and actually formulate an organization or a series of organizations that can allow us to ensure that we are better prepared for this sort of an attack and actually have an upper hand over these terrorists if and when this happens again.
A very important thing to highlight:
"We are not dealing with ordinary killers anymore. These are highly trained, highly effective killing machines who know how to operate on the state of the art equipment which is now available readily in open markets! We can't fight them using old tactics and measures. We need to move fast, before a second one comes in."
Here are my observations:
Landmark Specialists - We don't have any!
After listening to the NSG Black Cat Commandos, I realized how bad our system is. I remember getting lost in a big hotel when I was a kid, I looked for maps everywhere, nowhere to be found. The only way out if bellboys and hotel staff. They know these places better than everyone else.
Our NSG Commandos today faced the same thing, they did not know the internals of the buildings they were operating in. It seems like the terrorists knew a whole lot more. We don't have specialists outside of the hotel managers and the staff that can guide our commandos through the maze of hotel rooms and corridors in dark? Really?
Solution: The solutions could be many:
I actually want this to be a private organization since I have completely lost my faith in the Indian governments abilities to execute anything to perfection. The rules in a private organization can be made very very strict thereby ensuring the highest quality.
SWAT Team
OK, let's face it, this has been a long time need in Mumbai. After the 1993 riots, I thought we would have one. Years have passed and there still isn't a mention of the need to have a SWAT team. Who are we kidding? While the commandos do a great job, I feel it is very important for a city like Bombay/Mumbai to be completely self sufficient. It is a joke that we don't have a SWAT team in a city of 18+ million.
We have ATS, but the SWAT was formed in 1960 in LA with the intent of solving problems similar to the ones we faced. Here's the Wikipiedia entry on this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT
This should be our top most priority. If we don't take action now, we will forget, as we always have. Our citizens need to set up a dialog with authorities in the USA to find an immediate way to train some of our top notched policemen to convert into SWAT. Even better, pick some of those Z-security commandos that are assigned to our politicians and convert them into SWAT. Seriously, let the politicians stay at home, we need more help out in the field.
This means:
Living in a foreign country teaches you three things:
1. It opens your mind
2. It opens your eyes
3. It opens your options
I am very open to the option of talking to like minded individuals to see what can be done in terms of concrete steps that can be taken to expedite this process. We the people here should initiate the dialog from the US and force our Indian govt to accept these changes.
There are multiple reasons why the reverse dialog process will succeed:
1. Americans travel to India in huge numbers. Westerners are being targeted. If we want to protect them from being targeted, we need to get our systems right. If we need to get our systems right, we need to get our people well equipped and well trained. The only way you can do that is by enforcing from the outside, impositions on our govt to start taking these actions.
2. Anything that happens in India, adversely affects multiple different countries
Let's face it, India has a lot of saying on a lot of systems worldwide. If we are not able to get up and running in 2 days, we risk global instability. We need people who do business with the Indians to enforce infrastructure improvement. It has to start from the bottom all the way to the top. No infrastructure improvements = No pay. You cut their money, and see how they get stuff done.
I say, we should go back to the basics. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We created a system that doesn't function for the current times. It's good to change, we should change.
What I want to know is, how people like me, who are here, can actually help cause a change. How can we make a change? I know I can sit here and say this and that, but I want to see if we can actually do something, by creating platforms for change!
[UPDATE - Nov 28, 2008]
It is very discomforting to see the obvious un-professionalism of our media personnel. I cannot believe that there does not exist any concept of orderly behavior between our television reporters. Cursing while setting up equipment, use of 3rd grade languages while live shots are going on are some of the things that need to change! We need to set up rules that identify how journalists can set up their equipment at distinct intervals. There has to be a service provided to these men in uniforms to speak from behind a booth using a sound system! Either way, these journalists really make it hard to obtain a decent interview. While someone is answering a question, you can already here some other journalist asking questions before the answer is over. C-H-A-O-S. What is wrong? Aren't these people supposed to be trained? Or am I missing something? Why is everything in the country so badly organized? I think it's really time to go back to the basics!
Very curious to hear some constructive feedback...
Being here in the US, I can definitely tell you that I felt helpless watching the entire ordeal live on the internet. India is a very complicated state of affairs. With the constant manipulation by the politicians to its growing regionalism, it is taking a step that is exactly opposite to the direction we should be moving in. This post is not aimed towards those who manipulate the system and make it a joke.
I am proposing a platform to brainstorm and actually formulate an organization or a series of organizations that can allow us to ensure that we are better prepared for this sort of an attack and actually have an upper hand over these terrorists if and when this happens again.
A very important thing to highlight:
"We are not dealing with ordinary killers anymore. These are highly trained, highly effective killing machines who know how to operate on the state of the art equipment which is now available readily in open markets! We can't fight them using old tactics and measures. We need to move fast, before a second one comes in."
Here are my observations:
Landmark Specialists - We don't have any!
After listening to the NSG Black Cat Commandos, I realized how bad our system is. I remember getting lost in a big hotel when I was a kid, I looked for maps everywhere, nowhere to be found. The only way out if bellboys and hotel staff. They know these places better than everyone else.
Our NSG Commandos today faced the same thing, they did not know the internals of the buildings they were operating in. It seems like the terrorists knew a whole lot more. We don't have specialists outside of the hotel managers and the staff that can guide our commandos through the maze of hotel rooms and corridors in dark? Really?
Solution: The solutions could be many:
- Create building plans using professional tools and technologies and make them available on-demand to any authorized individual whenever necessary. This means specialized mini-GPS type systems preloaded with maps that focus on internal location guidance. Or even better headset video cameras with live streams so that a specialist can guide a commando from a remote location
- We need eyes and ears! This means sophisticated video devices that can be thrown into this buildings to provide live feeds to a control unit outside.
- Create a team of people who are so called specialists and who understand these buildings inside out and render services as joint ops whenever required.
- Complete knowledge about all major landmarks in the city. This includes hotels, hospitals, airports, cinema theaters, shopping malls. This person should only focus on knowing every place at the back of his hand. He should be able to guide you through a labyrinth of alleys inside any given hotel even under the worst of situations.
- Training on operating arms
- Martial Arts training
- Ability to speak multiple languages, understand various different dialects
I actually want this to be a private organization since I have completely lost my faith in the Indian governments abilities to execute anything to perfection. The rules in a private organization can be made very very strict thereby ensuring the highest quality.
SWAT Team
OK, let's face it, this has been a long time need in Mumbai. After the 1993 riots, I thought we would have one. Years have passed and there still isn't a mention of the need to have a SWAT team. Who are we kidding? While the commandos do a great job, I feel it is very important for a city like Bombay/Mumbai to be completely self sufficient. It is a joke that we don't have a SWAT team in a city of 18+ million.
We have ATS, but the SWAT was formed in 1960 in LA with the intent of solving problems similar to the ones we faced. Here's the Wikipiedia entry on this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT
This should be our top most priority. If we don't take action now, we will forget, as we always have. Our citizens need to set up a dialog with authorities in the USA to find an immediate way to train some of our top notched policemen to convert into SWAT. Even better, pick some of those Z-security commandos that are assigned to our politicians and convert them into SWAT. Seriously, let the politicians stay at home, we need more help out in the field.
This means:
- Better equipment. Are you surprised that the terrorists had better equipment than most of our police forces? Are you surprised that they were constantly communication with each other? Did you look at the quality of our bullet proof vests? Where is the money going!!!!
- Night Vision glasses! Where are they when we need them the most. Our commandos are going in risking their lives, and we don't provide them with night vision! How will we ever give them an upper hand over the terrorists.
- What about radio communication systems between teams? Was there a mothership set up? This mothership should know the location and should be able to communicate with every man out in the field. I would never be comfortable doing what the NSG Commandos did without the pre-requisites. I mean come on, we are growing economically at a rate that has been unheard of in most of the countries, where is it going? Politicians?
Living in a foreign country teaches you three things:
1. It opens your mind
2. It opens your eyes
3. It opens your options
I am very open to the option of talking to like minded individuals to see what can be done in terms of concrete steps that can be taken to expedite this process. We the people here should initiate the dialog from the US and force our Indian govt to accept these changes.
There are multiple reasons why the reverse dialog process will succeed:
1. Americans travel to India in huge numbers. Westerners are being targeted. If we want to protect them from being targeted, we need to get our systems right. If we need to get our systems right, we need to get our people well equipped and well trained. The only way you can do that is by enforcing from the outside, impositions on our govt to start taking these actions.
2. Anything that happens in India, adversely affects multiple different countries
Let's face it, India has a lot of saying on a lot of systems worldwide. If we are not able to get up and running in 2 days, we risk global instability. We need people who do business with the Indians to enforce infrastructure improvement. It has to start from the bottom all the way to the top. No infrastructure improvements = No pay. You cut their money, and see how they get stuff done.
I say, we should go back to the basics. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We created a system that doesn't function for the current times. It's good to change, we should change.
What I want to know is, how people like me, who are here, can actually help cause a change. How can we make a change? I know I can sit here and say this and that, but I want to see if we can actually do something, by creating platforms for change!
[UPDATE - Nov 28, 2008]
It is very discomforting to see the obvious un-professionalism of our media personnel. I cannot believe that there does not exist any concept of orderly behavior between our television reporters. Cursing while setting up equipment, use of 3rd grade languages while live shots are going on are some of the things that need to change! We need to set up rules that identify how journalists can set up their equipment at distinct intervals. There has to be a service provided to these men in uniforms to speak from behind a booth using a sound system! Either way, these journalists really make it hard to obtain a decent interview. While someone is answering a question, you can already here some other journalist asking questions before the answer is over. C-H-A-O-S. What is wrong? Aren't these people supposed to be trained? Or am I missing something? Why is everything in the country so badly organized? I think it's really time to go back to the basics!
Very curious to hear some constructive feedback...
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