Bhubaneswar, Feb. 28: Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police are looking for an image makeover.

To make the police force people-friendly, a two-day programme for “Improving police behaviour and attitude” began here today.

Sixty-four police personnel of the ranks of assistant commissioner of police, inspectors, sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors took part in the programme on the first day. The programme includes yoga sessions and interactive indoor classes to bring about behavioural changes in the policemen. The topics ranged from understanding oneself, understanding the human rights of others and concept of right to live with dignity.

The list of trainers include a team of psychologists of Utkal University headed by P. Rath, K. Mohanty of a management consultancy firm, members of Bramha Kumari Iswariya Viswavidyalaya and Patanjali Yoga Kendra. Chief secretary J.K. Mohapatra and director-general of police Prakash Mishra attended the inaugural ceremony and shared their experiences with the trainees.

Today, the police personnel were divided into groups and made to portray different roles to show their response to particular situations. Tomorrow, the trainees would be imparted lessons on how to tackle stress and time management.

Police commissioner R.P. Sharma said this was the first such training programme for police personnel in the country. “Such training programmes would be held at regular intervals. It would be a three-day affair. The first phase would be of two days. The final session will take place after a few days,” he said.

“This was a wonderful experience for us. We learnt how to handle stress while dealing with people at police stations,” said inspector in charge of Kharavela Nagar Police Station Nihar Ranjan Pradhan.