Five new police divisions:

Grave crimes in North, a thing of the past – Senior DIG

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

Maintaining law and order is an important feature in a sound society. To deal with civil security and handle social affairs a well organised structure is essential. During the past three decades the military played a major role in maintaining law and order in the operational areas apart from dealing with the issues pertaining to national security. Since the liberation of the North the need for a good policing system was much felt.

The huge responsibility of controlling these liberated areas fell upon the police department. Setting up new police divisions, stations and posts was part of the first phase, apart from recruiting more staff to man the new areas. Seven police divisions have been set up in the Northern Province under a Senior Deputy Inspector General who overlooks the entire province and three DIGs in charge of Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar ranges. The seven police divisions Jaffna, Kankesanthurai (KKS), Mankulam, Kilinochchi, Mulaithivu, Mannar and Vavuniya are supervised by seven Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs).

Apart from Vavuniya and Jaffna the rest of the divisions are new and the stations under them were set up after May 2009. In the five new police divisions about 20 new police stations have been set up and 11 police posts are to be set up in the near future.

Senior DIG, Northern Province, Gamini de Silva said that 7,000 policemen currently serve in the province attached to number of units including civil affairs, crime detection, traffic administration, women's and children's bureau and intelligence.

Low crime rate

The striking point about the Northern Province when compared to the other eight provinces is that the percentage of crime reported is low and the percentage of crimes being solved is high.

These are mostly theft and robbery which could be considered as the gravest crimes being reported along with a considerable amount of domestic violence cases being reported to the Police Women's and Children's Bureau.

There are hardly any grave crimes like murder, assault, rape, abduction or arson being reported in the peninsula since 2009. Although the entire peninsula was liberated since 1995, terrorism was still continuing with a series of assassinations being conducted by the LTTE pistol gang.

This came to a halt with the liberation of the entire Northern Province and the joint operation launched by the military and the police in Jaffna.

No such incidents have been reported since then except for work of certain anti-social elements like theft and robbery being reported every now and then. The targets for robbery are mainly jewellery shops where gold has being looted on many occasions. However special surveillance systems and mobile patrol units had been deployed to control this situation.

Amidst the 7,000 strong police cadre, 3,000 are Tamil officers who have been absorbed to the force during the past three years. Recruiting Tamil police officers to the force and training Sinhala police officers in the Tamil language is something which has been given priority by the police department to help the Northern civilians and bridge the gap between the two language barriers that caused much confusion for decades.

A special six-month Tamil language courses are held in Police Training Academies in Vavuniya and KKS where 1,800 Sinhala police officers have been given a Tamil language training so far. Apart from this, 800 Tamil police officers have recently passed out. The officers with these language skills are deployed at every police station in the province to make the administration run smoothly and efficiently.

According to Senior DIG, the relations between the civilians and the police is growing everyday because of this communication ability and it has helped in community policing. Special community police committees have been organised at village level to discuss issues and problems civilians face and to carry out development program.

Election monitoring unit

De Silva said police are well prepared to face the upcoming provincial council elections. He said that the present strength is sufficient for election duties throughout the province. Additional forces will be summoned if required. The police will set up an election monitoring unit in each division in the province. Apart from this, government funded projects are underway to construct new police stations and posts and to reconstruct the Jaffna Police Headquarters. Rs.350 million had been allocated to construct the Headquarters complex that includes a Senior DIG Office, a DIG Office, office facilities for other senior ranks, quarters and offices for special branches.

The new police stations set up in the five divisions are:

Kilinochchi Division: Kilinochchi Police Headquarters, Mulankavil Police Station, Nachchikuda Police Station, Palei Police Station and Pooneryn Police Station. Police posts in Ramanadhapuram, Dharmapuram and Akkarayankulam will be developed into police stations in the future.

Mankulam Division: Mankulam Police Headquarters, Omanthai Police Station, Puliyankulama Police Station, Kanagarayankulam Police Station, Mallavi Police Station and Nedunkerni Police Station. Aiyankulam Police Post along with Thirumurukandi and Nattankandal Police Posts are yet to be constructed.

Mulaithivu Division: Mulaithivu Police Headquarters, Oddusudan Police Station, Mullayaweli Police Station, Pudukuduirippu Police Station. Police posts in Wallipuram, Wishwamadu, Kokkuthuduwai, Alampil and Devapuram will be constructed in the future.

Mannar Division: Viduthalthivu Police Station, Iluppukadawei Police Station, Silawathura Police Station and Madu Police Station.

Kankesanthurai Division: Maradankeni Police Post.