Kerala Police Academy

History

One of the first professional training colleges for Police department was started in Kerala, when Travancore Maharaja Visakham Thirunal established Trivandrum Police Training School in 1882 to train police forces of Travancore. Primary training like physical drills, martial arts and language training were given, primarily to senior police officials of Travancore Royal Police. In 1943, Police Training college was established, to provide detailed training in criminal investigations and espionage activities. The training college and school were later merged in 1959 after Independence, which remained primary training center for Kerala Police.

In 1998, the E.K Nayanar government sensed the urgency of having a larger campus for accommodating better training facilities for Kerala Police. It was decided to convert the large government estate of Ramavarmapuram in Thrissur city for Kerala Police Academy and construction started. The new facility was opened by A.K Antony, then the Chief Minister of Kerala in 2004.

Facility

Spread over an area of 348 acres (1.4 km²), the Academy is designed to have a capacity of training 1950 trainees of various ranks (1500 constables, 400 officers and 50 women constables) at a time, which is one of the highest in India. Built at a cost of Rs 220 million, the Academy has indoor training facility to train 1200 people at a time, a main parade ground of 7.5 acres (30,000 m²) and a sports complex ground of 3.5 acres (14,000 m²). The Academy has got a 300 yards (270 m) firing range. The MT school of the Academy can train 300 drivers at a time. There is also a police dog training center and kennel which can train 18 dogs at a time..

Since its inception, the Academy has trained over 22,000 personnel of various ranks.. The main administrative block of the Academy is a building of 90,000 square feet (8,000 m²) floor area. Accommodation at the Academy includes the Senior Officers’ Mess with a capacity of 68, a Subordinate Officers’ Mess with a capacity of 152, and the Mess for the constabulary which can house 900 men. The Academy has got its own hospital, bank and post office. The Academy is headed by an officer of the rank of IGP, assisted by one DIG and five SPs. The responsibility of the overall planning and supervision of training activities of Kerala Police is vested in ADGP (Training) based at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).

Structure

Kerala Police Academy has a Main building of 90,000 Squire Feet. It consists of,

Courses and training

Kerala Police Academy is conscious of the challenge of transforming Police training to suit the needs of a modern democratic society. Kerala Police Academy is about to revise both the content as well as the methodology of Police training.

Basic training

Every person who joins Kerala Police will undergo basic training here at the Kerala Police Academy. Every trainee will be taught the following subjects;

Special training

KEPA offers various training programs, depending upon specialized police units and specific requirements

Networking and cyber forensic studies

KEPA has one year diploma training in Networking and Cyber Forensic studies mainly to train cyber police officials in effective management of cyber operations and combating cyber crimes. 3 month long special short term courses on ethical hacking, system data recovery and cyber analytics are also taught

Special operations

3 month, 6 month and one-year-long special operations techniques are taught to train commandos, special operations group in exercising swift commando operations. A Forensic Science Lab was established to give training in “Scientific Aids to Investigation” at a cost of Rs. 60 lakhs. The Model Police Station in the Academy is a true replica of an actual police station and help trainees in role-play. This will also be a mock police station for trainees and the academy community. Training for other Departments like Excise, Forest, Fire force, Motor Vehicles etc., is also conducting in Academy.