Sunday Times 2
Police indiscipline and Police bashing
View(s):The Defence Secretary, the Attorney General and Cabinet Ministers are heard these days vociferously bashing the Police, alleging corruption and inefficiency. Surely, police officers are human beings, and they cannot be transformed to become ideal police officers by waving the word ‘Police’ as if the mere word ‘Police’ is a magic wand. It is vetting and training that go to turn out a good police officer.
There is no doubt that the Police Service has gone down to abysmal depths. The reasons are not hard to find.
During the war period, there were indiscriminate intakes to the Reserve Police without any concern for qualifications or suitability for the Police. During the latter stages, they were taken mainly on political considerations. By and by, the Reservists equalled the number of Regulars in the Police Service. They did not receive proper training as police officers, but received promotions on their own standards that were not scrupulous.
Then in 2006, on an order from the President, all Reservists were absorbed to the Regular Force in the ranks they held in the Reserve Police, much to the detriment of Regulars especially in regard to their seniority in service, creating immense frustration in them.
Some of these Reservists were not only totally unfit for the Police, they had not received proper training, and are undisciplined and inefficient and their loyalties are elsewhere, as could be expected. Some have, however, risen to ranks of ASP and even SP. Even after the absorption they could have been put through the requisite training in batches. But no one has been interested.
The Defence Secretary and the Attorney General are also coming down hard on the Police, but what have they done to rectify this situation? Can anyone with a wee bit of grey matter, expect anything better from such a forlorn Police Service?
The Prime Minister who was responsible for the absorption of the Reservists when he was the President, has gone on record protesting at a public meeting that not enough recognition is given to politicians by the police and demanded that they be recognised. In other words, he wanted their requests acceded to. The lawfulness of these requests is anybody’s guess.
Incapacitating the Police in this manner is perceived as a deliberate and sinister move to make the Police Force ineffective and have it out of the way for dreadful omens that portend.
There is something called the Independent Police Commission which has all the powers over the Police Service for enlistments, training, performance, promotions, transfers, and punishments. It was established to insulate the Police Service from political interference and to enhance its performance. But what is it doing while the Police Service is being emasculated by politicos? Recently I read a comment from a Retired Senior Police Officer who described it as ‘the Interdependent Police Commission’. It is absolutely so, with members of the Commission drawing over six figure salaries from the dwindling public coffers, but in effect insulating the politicos by their pathetic inaction and sweet repose.
Any prospect for Police can be with the community, not with the Government, not with the courts, not with the Attorney General, not with the National Police Commission.
It is high time the people open their minds and harness People Power to get over this gigantic problem. After all, “police are the public and public are the police” in a democratic country. That is the reality, but it is denied to the people by militarised authoritarian governance from which we have to extricate ourselves.
(The article includes input by Retired DIG Rohan Abeyawardena. Tassie Seneviratne is a Retired Senior Police Officer.
He can be contacted at
seneviratnetz@gmail.com)