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Rogue cops on the rise
By Tania Fernando
The number of crimes in which police officers have allegedly been involved has doubled this year. compared to the previous years, Police statistics reveal.
The disclosure that a Southern Province SSP has been reported to the bribery commission for allegedly being in the pay of big kasippu mudalalis has focused the spotlight on a serious crisis where the crime rate within the police department is growing.

During the first six months of this year, there have been as many as 107 cases allegations of crime involving police officers compared to 64 reported during the whole of 2001.

A top police officer told The Sunday Times the downgrading of standards for recruitment and the lack of proper training coupled with socio-economic factors were among the reasons why an alarming number of police officers were turning out to be crooks.

In one of the most shocking cases, recently, the Southern Province Police Chief D. W. Prathapasinghe has asked the Bribery Commission to probe charges that an SSP and three officers were in the pay of a kasippu mudalali who was allegedly involved in the abduction of the teenage daughter of an Elpitiya businessman.

The kasippu mudalali is alleged to have given a contract to a gang including military deserters to abduct the girl and demand a ransom of Rs. 2.5 million from her businessman father, who was reported to have had a dispute with the kasippu mudalali.

The ransom was paid within hours and the girl was released unharmed. On the Special direction of the DIG, the police acted swiftly to arrest the suspects and recover the ransom money amidst allegations that the SP had tried to cover up for the kasippu mudalali.

About 1.2 million of the ransom money was recovered from a sergeant at the Armoured Corp camp at Mutwal in Colombo on Friday. Two months ago, a DIG was interdicted for allegedly seeking a bribe from an Inspector. But the case was later dropped on the claim that evidence was insufficient.

In another disturbing case, an inspector is alleged to have led a gang of vehicle robbers.

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