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| Sunday, 24 July 2005 |
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Smart police arrive by Jayampathy Jayasinghe A SMART anti-riot police team will be formed soon in the Colombo city to handle unruly crowds and demonstrations that have often clashed with the police in the recent past. A distinct feature of the SMART anti-riot squad is that they will be wearing a special black uniform and a helmet and will only carry a special imported baton to control crowds. DIG Colombo Pujitha Jayasundera said that around 300 policemen drawn from 19 police stations including the Police Reserve are undergoing a three months training program at the Police Field Force Headquarters at Bambalapitiya. "The training program is personally supervised by me and other Senior Officers from the Colombo range. The response to join the SMART anti-riot-squad has been overwhelming." The long term plan is to have a squad of 1000 trained policemen in anti-riot drill based in Colombo to be deployed at short notice. Two special buses have been allocated for anti-riot squad men to be transported, he said. The first batch of officers will be deployed at the Keththarama Stadium during the One Day Triangular Series cricket matches between Sri Lanka and West-Indies and India in August. Whilst under training, these policemen will be sent to Pettah and Fort areas where large demonstration take place. The formation of a special riot squad was proposed by IGP Chandra Fernando owing to difficulties faced by policemen when transported from long distances. |
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