Guwahati, Jan. 2: Assam police have come forward to hone the skills of village defence personnel (VDP), who act as a bridge between villagers and police and play an important role in fighting p#etty crimes.

The step has come 70 years after the inception of VDP at Birinasayek, a village along the Assam-Nagaland border in Upper Assam's Jorhat district, by former Teok MLA Harinarayan Baruah to empower the villagers check robbery and cattle smuggling - two major problems they had been facing.

A two-week training programme, organised at the regional training centre for fire and emergency services at Sheela in Kamrup, began today.

"Types of crimes have changed over the time. New issues such as drug abuse, human trafficking and witch-hunting have become the problems these days. The police department has realised that the VDP need to be trained and made aware of the laws regarding these crimes so that one can combat them and protect the villages," Mukesh Sahay, director-general of Assam police, said at the training session.

P.C. Saloi, inspector-general of police (administration), said Assam police had earlier tied up with several NGOs to train the personnel, but this is the first training session organised by the department solely.

"We have asked for one or two representatives from each district to join the training programme. They will be taught the basic laws related to crimes and accidents and disaster response techniques. They will then teach those in their respective districts," Saloi told The Telegraph.

At present, the state has 19,881 registered VDP while 6,161 unregistered personnel are functioning after being assigned by their respective superintendents of police.

"The department has decided to register all the unregistered VDP too. Special emphasis will be given on women's participation, which will in turn help stop human trafficking. The training session is just the first step. Our department is also mulling to bring in educated youths of the villages to help build a database," Sahay said.