KOCHI: For the first time in the state, Student Police Cadets (SPC), who are aged above 18, will be appointed Special Police Officers for local body election duty. The state government has approved a proposal submitted by the state police chief to deploy SPCs who have successfully completed the SPC training programme and are above 18 years of age.
The Home Department, in an order dated November 25, said, “The government is pleased to accord sanction to the state police chief to recruit cadets who are above 18 years of age from the Student Police Cadets alumni batches as special police officers to help the Kerala Police ensure necessary arrangements for the local body elections-2020.”
SPC nodal officer and IG (police headquarters) P Vijayan told TNIE that of the 1.5 lakh SPCs who have passed out, nearly 70,000 of them are now aged above 18.
“We expect to deploy 13,000 cadets for the election duty which is scheduled for two days,” he said, adding that SPCs who take up election duty will be eligible for an allowance of Rs 1,250 per day.
“The Kerala Police used to utilise the services of ex-servicemen and home guards for election-related duties. This is for the first time that SPCs aged above 18 are being used for the purpose,” he said.It’s learnt that the decision to include SPCs for election-related duty was taken by the government to offer financial support to thousands of families of the SPCs who have been reeling under the Covid-induced economic crisis.
“Most of the SPCs hail from ordinary families. The remuneration of `2,500 for two-day election duty will comes as a big relief to many of these families,” said a senior officer.
A1,250 the daily remuneration for SPCs who take up election duty