The Police Department has deployed 65,758 police personnel for election duties, for the upcoming Local Government polls to be held on February 10.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Police Headquarters in Colombo yesterday, Police Media Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said two armed police personnel, a Constable and Sergeant, will be deployed for each of the 13,420 polling centres across the country.
“In total, 26,840 police personnel will be deployed for polling centre duty. In addition, police mobile services will also be deployed covering all these polling centres. Each mobile unit will cover around three to four polling centres and accordingly, 3,225 mobile units have also been assigned to provide security covering all polling centres. Each mobile unit will consist of one Inspector, one constable or sergeant, two CSD personnel and a driver. In addition, in several identified areas, two STF personnel will also be included. Accordingly, a total of 13,552 police and csd personnel will be assigned for mobile patrols,” he said.
“In several areas, 99 mobile patrols consisting solely of STF personnel will also be deployed. These units are not deployed to provide security to the polling centres but to maintain peace and law and order in the area. A total of 1,174 STF personnel will thus be deployed for these mobile patrols. Further there are around 25 district election officers located around the country and 1,275 police officers will be deployed for security,” the Police Media Spokesman noted.
SP Gunasekara further said 140 riot prevention squads have also been established at Police divisional level and ASP level. These riot squads will comprise of 1,106 police personnel of several ranks.
“The Police Department has also deployed 3,248 Police Officers for 464 road blocks. A total of 4,178 STF officers have been deployed for election duty and they will be deployed for mobile patrols and security duties around polling stations and counting centres,” SP Gunasekara said.
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