STUDENT POLICE CADET PROJECT
The Student Police Cadet (SPC) Programme seeks to prepare students to be responsible citizens and socially committed individuals, willing to perform selfless service to their community. The goal of SPC is to free young minds from narrow-minded interpretations of Duty into a wider, free thinking understanding of Citizenship, thereby helping to evolve a vigilant but peaceful development-oriented law abiding society.
Origin of SPC Project
The farsighted SPC Project had its genesis in janakeeyam 2006, a community policing workshop at Kochi Police and NSS Unit of Vocational Higher Secondary School, Ernakulam in October 2006. The Event, inaugurated by Hon. Home Minister of Kerala Sri Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on October 21st 2006, enabled over 400 school students to interact freely with police personnel on issues of interest to the students themselves.
Students who participated in this workshop expressed a wish to have a permanent and productive link to the police. As a result, the SPC project was conceptualized and launched on an experimental basis in two schools in Ernakulam Rural District, which was later extended to include another school in Alappuzha District. Based on the results and feedback from these schools, the Government of Kerala gave its approval to the expansion of the SPC programme to other schools in the state in early 2010.
The SPC Programme: An Overview
The mission of SPC is to create an enlightened citizenry who will obey laws not because it is enforced by police or some outside agency, but because it is the civilized and rational thing to do.
The SPC Programme employs the tools of education, exposure and interaction to groom young minds for their role as future citizens of the country, and thereby of the world.
The aim of SPC training is to develop an active, creative, and positive outlook towards life among the cadets, equipping them to face up to all situations with confidence and maturity.
Programme Objectives:
1. Enable students to work with the police and other authorities in ensuring internal security, maintaining law and order, traffic control and eradicating crime.
2. Equip students to react against social evils like terrorism, separatism, communalism and drug addiction.
3. Inculcate among students civic sense, social commitment and selfless willingness to serve the community.
4. Develop equality, a secular outlook, a spirit of enquiry, the power of observation, leadership qualities and a love of adventure among students.
5. Promote among students a love of nature, awareness regarding environmental protection and readiness to be active in managing disasters.
6. Promote among students high values in oral character and personal conduct.
SPC training component is designed to
Train young and fresh minds in the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, not merely as a duty but as a welcome responsibility
Instill a culture of physical fitness and adventure among school students and develop them a bold and free-thinking individuals
Reinforce in young minds the universal precepts of tolerance and social inclusion, thereby ensuring that they become assets to their families as well as the community around them
SPC Programme Governance
Advisory committees at multiple levels have the responsibility of overseeing programme implementation, making policy decisions, and ensuring adherence to programme modalities in implementing the SPC Project.
School Level Advisory Committee
District Level Advisory Committee
State Level Advisory Committee
These committees will have representation from the departments Home, Education, Transport, Local Self Government, Excise, Forest and experts from various fields.
Activities for Student Police Cadets
1. Conduct study visits to police stations, court and prison to understand judicial procedures.
2. Organize law literacy programs for peers in collaboration with various governmental and non governmental organizations.
3. Present short plays, mono acts, essays, film shows and other creative activities to counter anti-social tendencies among youth, such as drug and alcohol abuse, vandalism, etc.
4. Participate in sports events, drills, parades, camps, study classes and tour programs.
5. Participate in various personality and leadership quality development programs.
6. Celebrate National Festivals, cherish symbols of nationalism and organize the public against terrorism and sectarianism.
7. Popularize community-interest services such as crime stopper, police help line etc. among students.
8. Encourage family members and friends to handover relevant information to the police to fight crime.
9. Engage in efforts to bring the police and the public closer.
10. Work with the police force to eradicate offenses and maintain law and order.
