Bhutan Police Force
Traffic control on Norzin Lam, Thimphu's main street
Courtesy Bhutan Travel, Inc., New York (Marie Brown)
The Royal Bhutan Police was established with personnel
reassigned from the army on September 1, 1965, a day
thereafter
marked as Police Day throughout Bhutan. Starting with only
a few
hundred personnel in 1965, by the late 1970s the force had
more
than 1,000 constables and officers. Recruits--grade six
graduates
and above--were trained at the Police Training Centre in
Zilnon
Namgyeling, Thimphu District, and, after 1981, at a police
training
center in Jigmiling, Geylegphug District. The curriculum
consisted
of weapons training, tae kwon do, physical training with
and
without arms, law, simple investigation techniques,
"turn-out
drill," check-post duties, traffic control, public
relations, and
driglam namzha. Recruits were also trained for
other
unspecified duties and to escort important visitors.
Since the establishment of the police force in 1965,
Indian
police advisers and instructors have been used. Starting
in 1975,
Bhutanese instructors, trained in India for one year,
began
training recruits at the Zilnon Namgyeling Police Training
Centre.
Advanced training for selected police officers in fields
such as
criminology, traffic control, and canine corps has taken
place in
India and other countries. In 1988, following specialized
training
in India, a female second lieutenant established a
fingerprint
bureau in Thimphu. Besides having access to training at
the Indian
Police Academy in Hyderabad, some students were also sent
to the
Police Executive Development Course in Singapore.
Besides performing their standard police functions,
members of
the Royal Bhutan Police also served as border guards and
firefighters and provided first aid. In 1975, in response
to the
increased number of traffic accidents resulting from the
development of roads and the increase number of motor
vehicles, the
police established an experimental mobile traffic court
staff with
Royal Bhutan Police personnel and a judicial official to
make onthe -spot legal decisions.
Organizationally subordinate to the Royal Bhutan Army,
the
Royal Bhutan Police in 1991 was under the command of Major
General
Lam Dorji, who was also chief of operations of the army,
under the
title inspector general or commandant. There were police
headquarters in each district and subdistrict.
Data as of September 1991
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