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Mass promotions create top-heavy police
View(s):Police top brass now have the unenviable task of finding replacements as officers-in-charge for almost a quarter of the country’s police stations.
The reason — for the first time in their near one and half century of existence, some 120 officers-in-charge have been promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Whilst the vast majority were OICs of stations, there were a few who held desk jobs elsewhere including Police Headquarters. They are now undergoing training. There are 435 Police Stations in Sri Lanka.
Some senior officers say the sudden elevation of 120 as ASPs was carried out without long-term planning though there were specialised units in the department for this purpose.
In five years, the larger majority of the ASPs would swell the ranks of Superintendents and in ten years that much more Senior Superintendents, they point out. It would make the department top heavy, they say.
One of them alleged that ‘mass promotions’ was the result of political compulsions and was not guided by departmental needs. However, an official of the Ministry of Law and Order denied it was based on “any political considerations.”