|
 Every human being has his duty gear, though some of these could be quite simple and exchangeable. But with police and military, their duty gear is unique, and crucial for their own survival and the survival of those whom they are expected to safeguard. Because of the different types of jobs they perform, their duty gear includes practically an infinite number of items; each specialized in its functionality to suit different needs.
Nature has provided each and every animal with its duty gear. Birds have their wings and predator animals have their canines and claws as their duty gear. However, in the case of man, the duty gear that nature has provided is far from sufficient to sustain him. Human societies have evolved far more than their initial stages so that the types of jobs they have to do encompass a wide variety, and span a very high degree of differences. As such, man cannot manage with whatever duty gear that nature has gifted him with. Man’s duty gear has to be manufactured to make him suitable for whatever duty the society has assigned him. Practically every job in the present day setup is so designed that it needs specialized duty gear.
Of the many types of duty gear that have become indispensable appendages of people, those of police and military are perhaps the most exacting. While in many other professions, people can temporarily suspend activity in the absence of necessary duty gear, policemen and militia men are rarely given such choices. Lack of right duty gear will be their total ruin. They will be worse than a bird whose wings have been clipped.
The extent of duty gear for policemen in different operations makes its procurement and maintenance a doubly exacting duty for policemen. Body protection armor, baton, tactile gloves, knives, gun belt, holster, gun, and boots, are the bare minimum duty gear required by riot control police. For those going for crime investigation, flashlight, forensic kit, and first aid kit form the mandatory duty gear, besides all the weapons that policemen have to routinely carry. Forensic kit itself will have things like equipment for taking blood or drug samples, devices for collecting fingerprints, paraphernalia necessary for cordoning off the area, and video and audio recording devices necessary for taking evidence, among other things.
Bomb disposal squad police will have as their duty gear bomb trolley, bomb basket, car remote opening kit, water cannon, suits and helmets that afford protection from explosive material, blast resistant boots and other devices necessary to neutralize unexploded bombs, if any. For those involved in rescue operations in water, the duty gear will be swift water rescue boats, rope retrievers, life vest, dry suit, and even all-weather whistles that can be heard above the din of the surrounding commotion.
While all these are duty gear required for different duties of the police, there are communication equipments like radio, phones, wireless, and laptop that will be part of police duty gear, whatever their function is. There will also be monitoring and tracking equipments like radar, warning lights etc. And these are just part of the routine police duty gear. For police commandoes and forces engaged in anti-insurgency operations and counterterrorism activities, there are still more specialized items of duty gear that come outside this broad categorization.
|
