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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Enhancing police image by Jayampathy Jayasinghe The Minister of Public Security Law and Order and the Buddhasasana, the Deputy Minister of Defence, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was quite candid when he said that the public should not expect one hundred per cent success in an anti crime operation which was launched recently. Instead, the public should extend their support and co-operation to the police to enable them to nab criminals. The Minister gave an exclusive interview to the Sunday Observer recently. In fact he was referring to the two emergency units at 118 and 119, which was set up at the Ministry of Public Security Law and Order and the Police Department recently to enable the public to tip off the Police on criminal activity. He said a person could remain anonymous without disclosing his identity and without paying for the call. "But the responses we expected are far from satisfactory. However with the available resources we have been able to minimise crime which was rearing its ugly head recently. It had been found that serious crime prevailed in the western province as police stations were woefully understaffed. The crime rate was high compared to other provinces. The strength requirement was far below the required number. The policemen posted to Northern and Eastern provinces could not be withdrawn due to prevailing tension in those areas. Minister Wickremanayake said that the treasury has given the green light to recruit additional 1000 policemen. The new recruits will be posted to police stations in the Western Province. Recruitment of another 1000 additional policemen will augment the strength in the western province to combat crime. "Talking of crime it is the western province that is plagued with crime. If crime was contained in the western province, then we will achieve our target, " he said. Asked why crime was so concentrated in Colombo and in suburban areas unlike in other provinces, the minister replied that Colombo was the capital city and many people who came here came into contact with various anti -social elements. All the bad things then go to villages and its peripheral areas. "All the businesses, gambling dens, bookies, brothels including massage parlours are in the western province." he said. Referring to smuggling of heroin from neighbouring countries the minister said the government was in touch with the countries concerned but expressed concern over smuggling of heroin from a new route of neighbouring country which he did not want to disclose. A senior police officer from that country is expected to visit Sri Lanka to discuss strategies connected to preventing smuggling of heroin to Sri Lanka. There was co-operation from India and Pakistan with regard to heroin smuggling. Asked why the police have not arrested well known drug barons and smugglers, who have been evading arrest the minister said with the murder of Judge Ambepitiya, many of them quite a number had left the country and are not coming here now. "But we are after them. " Asked why the ill-gotten wealth of drug barons could not be investigated by the Police Narcotics Bureau, (PNB) he said the only agency that is empowered to investigate such matters are the Bribery Commissioners Department. Commenting on the surrender of illegal firearms, the minister admitted that the scheme was a complete failure. "We wanted to purchase illegal firearms but the response was very poor. There are about 20,000 illegal firearms in the hands of service deserters which have contributed for the increase of crime. Referring to media reports of a LTTE air strip in the Wanni jungle he said the fact remains that there is an air strip and we cannot go away from that. "We must be always conscious of the fact that there is an air strip on which light weight aircraft could land. Already two light weight aircrafts which can carry 1000 kilos of explosives have been identified. They can destroy the entire city of Colombo. We have to give serious thought to it. We dont want innocent people to be targeted by anybody. We don't want vital buildings to be targeted in Colombo, he said. In his winding up remarks the minister reiterated the fact that lack of police strength is hampering crime prevention. "Policemen should establish a close link with people in their respective areas. They should meet them regularly at least once a month and discuss matters not only relating to crime but any other matter of interest in their areas. They should also get involved in community lifelike in sports activities etc, visit religious institutions like buddhist temples, Christian churches, mosques , Hindu temples, intermingle with people, give them protection and build their image not only as law enforcement officers but also as ambassadors of good will. |
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