THE Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) will start deploying its police personnel at least 10 days prior to the national and local elections on May 9, its official said.Police Lieutenant Abegael Donasco, spokesperson of Nocppo, said they already have a date of dispatch for the election-related materials to the northern and southern parts of the province.Donasco, however, refused to reveal the exact date for security reasons.She said they will no longer ask for additional manpower from other provinces as part of the protocols to ensure that no new variants of Sars-Cov-2, which causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19), will enter Negros Occidental.Of the six city and provincial police offices in Western Visayas, only Nocppo was able to report zero infections of these new variants among its police personnel.Nearly 1,400 police personnel under Nocppo will be assigned to guard voting centers during the elections.Two policemen will be deployed for each of the 698 voting centers in the province.The rest will be assigned either in the City or Municipal Election Monitoring and Action Centers or as part of Nocppo’s quick reaction force in case a serious incident occurs.Negros Occidental has a total of 10,130 voting precincts.