In a proud moment, the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) at Thrissur, a special unit of the state Police that also trains commandos, has been chosen by the Union Home ministry as the best in its category among those in the southern states.
The IRB, established in 2010, is a reserve unit as well as recruits and trains commandos – a concept that came very late to the state police when compared to several other states. The unit’s achievement is significant given that it competed in its category with established units like the Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh and that was established at least two decades before IRB.
The unit set up with the Centre’s assistance two divisions -the commandos popularly known as Thunderbolts that have been engaging Maoists in the jungles of the state borders, and the Scorpions, which are regular members who are detailed for emergency law and order duties, VVIP security duties, anti-extremist duties, emergency natural calamity duties, etc. Presently, there are 960 members in the unit, which also includes 300 members under the special operations group (SOGs), 100 newly-carved urban commandos named Avengers and a 50-member team deployed for special security at Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the capital.