THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Station House Officers (SHO) of border police stations will hold a meeting with their counterparts from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the run-up and during the Lok Sabha elections. The decision to have such a meeting was taken during a meeting between the State Police Chiefs at Ooty last month. This is the first time regular SHO-level meetings have been planned between the three states.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera told Express the decision was an important one since it’s for the first time such meetings have been planned. “The decision was taken during the meeting in Ooty. It was taken to ensure a fair and peaceful election,” he said.
Though the decision was taken prior to the encounter killing of a Maoist cadre in Wayanad, the move will inadvertently help in boosting security in border districts of Kannur, Palakkad and Malappuram.
Earlier, the SHOs of the border areas had to seek the help of their SPs concerned to establish contact with their counterparts across the borders. But now, they can directly get in touch. A senior cop in the Northern police Range said the decision will save time.
“The SHOs are the ones who know what’s happening in the grassroots. If they have credible information on certain issues - be it inputs on the flow of illegal cash or liquor- they can alert the SHOs of the station on the other side of the border. That way, immediate action can be launched,” he said.
During the Ooty meeting it was also decided to conduct raids on hotels in the border areas by the respective state police force and then intimate their counterparts concerned about the suspicious presence of people from those states. This decision is aimed at curbing illegal entry of criminals from one state to the another either to transport hawala money or for committing election-related crimes, sources said.
Boosting security
The meeting will help in boosting security in border districts of Kannur, Palakkad and Malappuram
SHOs can directly get in touch with their counterparts across the borders
It was also decided to conduct raids on hotels in the border areas by the respective state police force