THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a rare scenario, the police department on Sunday let a Kannur native hire four policemen on security duty on the occasion of his daughter’s marriage making use of the state government’s policy that allows private parties to hire policemen on payment of a fixed amount as fee.
The permission to hire four civil police officers was granted by Kannur City Additional SP P P Sadanandan. The permission was sought by K Ansar of Panoor, who wanted the service of four cops to provide security in connection with the visit of dignitaries for the marriage of his daughter. The cops were assigned duty from 9am to 5pm and `1,400 each was realised from Ansar as hiring charge. Sources said Ansar had moved his application on July 22 based on an existing government order that allowed private parties to hire policemen.
The government in February had revised the hiring charges of civil police officers, sub-inspectors and inspectors were fixed at `700, `2,560 and `3,795 for every four hours. However, the decision has not gone down well with a large section of the cops. Kerala Police Officers Association (KPOA) has petitioned the government and the state police chief to prevent recurrence of similar incidents.