Bouquet for his honesty

by Jayampathy Jayasinghe and M.D. Mahindasiri, Dewahuwa Gr. Cor.

Very often brickbats are hurled at policemen these days when they deal with the public in their day to day mundane affairs, but rarely do we hear of bouquets being offered to policemen for displaying honesty in the course of their duties.

The public perception of policemen today is not very encouraging due to a multitude of reasons, following the war on terrorism during the past three decades. They say finding an honest policeman these days is like looking for a needle in a hay stack. However, some policemen deserve bouquets for their meritorious acts that enhance the good image of the police department.

Police sergeant P.G. Ranjith Dahanayake Satharasinghe of the Galkiriyagama police station deserves a bouquet for displaying honesty. It happened last Thursday(10) when he picked up his daughter from a tuition class at the Galewela town and was heading home on his motor cycle around 5 p.m. when he noticed a travelling bag lying by the side of the road at the 4th mile post in Galewela.

Inquisitive to know what the bag contained, he stopped his motor cycle and examined the bag. To his surprise he found the bag containing cash worth Rs 280,000 among other things. Sergeant Satharasinghe took his daughter home and returned to the Galkiriyagama police station and handed over the bag containing the cash to the OIC Inspector P. Welikala. He then explained to the OIC, the circumstances in which he found the bag and asked him to trace the legitimate owner from the letters found on the travelling bag.

OIC Welikala lost no time in tracing the legitimate owner of the bag containing the cash. The lost items belonged to a woman named K.H.N.T. Jayasundera, 24, a resident of Randenigama in Nikaweratiya. She is a graduate of the Colombo University married to a disabled soldier. Last Thursday she had hired a three wheeler and was taking the money home in it to build a house.

The bag had accidently got thrown off from the three wheeler without her knowledge, she told the OIC when she went to the Galkiriyagama police station last Friday (11). She identified her bag and her clothes and told the OIC that the cash was intact.

OIC Welikala then accompanied the woman with her cash along with Sergeant Satharasinghe to the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anuradhapuara Division, Mahesh Senaratne and narrated the incident to him. The bag with the cash was then handed over to the woman whose eyes filled with tears of joy. The SSP commended the police sergeant for his honesty.