Student Police Cadet (SPC) Programme
The Student Police Cadet program is a Kerala Police initiative that enables high school students to evolve as responsible and capable citizens of a democratic society. It is a school-based program which inculcates values, skills, and attributes in youth necessary to function in today’s fast-changing and competitive world. This is achieved through a carefully designed and diverse capacity development program. This involves strengthening the emotional, physical, social, spiritual, and environmental quotients of children. The pilot version of the Student Police Cadet Programme was tried out in 2008 and in 2010, Government of Kerala launched it in 100 schools. By 2022, SPC is functioning in 1,000 schools across Kerala. It had a national roll out in 2018. More than 150,000 children have graduated through the programme and now engaged in change making initiatives. The programme is operational now in around 15,000 schools across India. Similar programmes are being tried out in Sri Lanka, Ghana and many other nations.
Our Responsibility to Children (ORC)
Most juvenile offenders are victims themselves – of broken families, economic deprivation, lack of education, etc. Thrusting them into the conventional police system has a greater chance of hardening them into career criminals than reforming them. The ORC project focuses on identifying children at risk and in need of care and attention, intervening with tailored support, and integrating them into the mainstream by equipping and empowering them to become productive members of society. More than 12,000 teachers have been trained to follow a specially designed curriculum to enhance life skills, nurture strengths, address vulnerabilities, and promote mentoring and good parenting.
Project Hope
Project HOPE is focused on children who have failed to clear the Class X and Class XII examination or those who have barely passed and are not eligible for higher studies are handheld to clear the examination with enough scores to go up in studies. This project came out of the realisation that children who drop out of the education mainstream due to educational failures become potent recruits for anti-social and seditious activities. In the pilot phase of Project HOPE, 143 children appeared for the SSLC exams, from Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Kozhikode districts. 110 of them passed the exam and completed the eligibility criteria for further studies. Following the success of the initial phase, Hope was scaled up across Kerala. 2,065 beneficiaries acquired basic educational qualification through the Project Hope, and majority of them are now pursuing higher education. 800 children cleared their board examinations during the Covid period. Around 500 resource persons are actively involved in implementing the programme in varying capacities such as mentors, teachers, volunteers and so on. Currently, 1,459 children are under Hope mentorship.
Compassionate Communications and Interventions in Police (CCIP)
This unique attempt is part of the effort to update the State Police system in accordance with the changing societal scenario. Based on concepts of Core Community Policing and the Psychological First-Aid (PFA) designed by WHO, this programme is offered to police officers under training at the Kerala Police Academy. In the long run, this can be replicated across different State police units in the country. .
Child Friendly Police Station
This venture is an attempt to transform police stations into abodes of justice, so that an invisible wall of protection is built around every child. This is to ensure cases involving children in conflict with law and children in contact with law are prioritised and handled with extreme sensitivity. As part of this, vulnerable children in the jurisdiction of the police station are identified and given special help with the assistance of experts. CAP Stations also organise community volunteers to mentor children at risk, and spread awareness about child rights and their enforcement. They function as Knowledge Hubs by maintaining a repository of information about child-related laws, codes, protocols, etc.