Display mobile phone no. on parked vehicles: Request by police

By Himal Kotelawala, Pic. by Athula Devapriya

A vehicle being searched at Dharmapala Mawatha on Thursday.

The police request motorists who park their vehicles within the Colombo city limits to display their mobile phone numbers on their vehicle windscreens so the owners can be easily contacted in the event of a sudden search operation or risk their vehicles being forced open.

Deputy Inspector General N. K. Ilangakoon told The Sunday Times that if the police and security forces were tipped off on a potential bomb threat, search operations would have to be carried out immediately. In such an event it would be extremely difficult to find the owners of motor vehicles in parking lots and it may result in the vehicle doors having to be forced open, causing unnecessary damage. Displaying the owners’ mobile phone numbers on their vehicles would prevent this, he said.

“This is not compulsory. We are only asking for public cooperation. If someone tips us about any vehicle, we can easily locate its owner if we know his phone number and ask him where he is, preventing his vehicle from being damaged,” DIG Ilangakoon said.

Citing as an example, an incident on Thursday where several vehicles parked at Dharmapala Mawatha, Kollupitiya had to be forced open during a sudden search operation, the DIG said this request was being made for the benefit of the public. According to him the vehicle owners were nowhere to be found at the time. However, they had turned up later, but by then the deed had been done.

DIG Ilangakoon insisted that this was not a new regulation nor was it compulsory for everyone to display their mobile phone number on their vehicle windscreens. The police have no intention of forcing open all vehicles in a parking lot, but only the ones found suspicious, he said.“It is just a request from the public for its own good,” he said.