Never, fortunately, having had more than a nodding acquaintance with the police, I picked up this book chiefly because the author is one of only two policemen I know and I was curious to see what he had put on record of his 39 years with this branch of law-enforcement.
From page 1, it was evident that Herbie had found his calling when he joined the Ceylon Police as a probationary Sub-Inspector in January 1960. He passed out as the best all round Sub-Inspector in his batch and he was, from first to last, a dedicated police officer to whom duty came before all else.
It was in 1963 that Herbie was selected to serve as a Criminal Investigator attached to the C.I.D and there is little doubt that he had found his particular niche in his chosen vocation.
We the members of the general public can have little idea of the ramifications of even a routine police investigation – how many people of diverse backgrounds have to be questioned and where and where the trail may lead.
After a great deal of energy and time and expense, the end result may not be satisfactory for varying reasons, the worst of them being political influence or interference.
The first case on which Herbie cut his teeth, so to speak, reads like a mundane affair involving some hocus-pocus relating to the purchase of bonemeal manure by the Mahawatte Cooperative Society in Batapola, in 1959.
The C.I.D. was called in because the then Commissioner of Agrarian Services, Neil Bandaranayake, was not satisfied with the investigation carried out by the Ambalangoda Police. Herbie observes that “The CID specialized mostly in the investigation of frauds for the reason they were the most difficult cases to investigate and because the officers of a local Police Station did not have the time to investigate these complicated cases.”
It seems a bit amusing today, when millions are defrauded, to find the young SI solemnly recording that, “After concluding this enquiry, the Attorney General sanctioned a prosecution for criminal misappropriation (of Rs.409/32), against Ariyapala” and that the accused “was convicted after a long trial and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.”
So, I found it rather surprising, some chapters later, to read of the case of a General Manager of the Lotteries Board, being found guilty, again after a long and thorough investigation, of criminal misappropriation of Rs.5000.
However, this man was able replace the money in full and so escaped with “a severe warning” from the Magistrate!
A much graver and more intriguing case is one headed: “Investigations in the UK to ascertain the assets of the Chairman of a very prominent Corporation.” This occurred when Herbie was transferred as Chief Investigator of a Special Presidential Commission “which was appointed to enquire into malpractices of the Government at that time.”
The three Commissioners were Justice Percy Colin-Thome, Chairman, Justice H.W. Thambiah and Justice Parinda Ranasinghe – “gentlemen par excellence”, writes Herbie.
In 1991, Herbie was transferred to the Colombo Fraud Bureau. Apparently, this department dealt with matters other than fraud as well. It was attached to the Colombo Range (whatever that is), and was under the administration of the DIG Colombo.
My attention was riveted to a page headed: The case of the dead bodies floating on the Bolgoda Lake, since this occurrence had deeply shocked the general public when it was reported in the media.
The IGP of that time, Frank Silva, had himself instructed Herbie over the phone to conduct an investigation into this terrible incident and three CID officers were detailed to assist him. About 20 dead bodies had been brought ashore by the Panadura and the Moratuwa Police and the JMO who performed the post mortems had found they had all been forcibly drowned in the lake.
But before that, they had been starved for a number of days and their hands and feet had been bound prior to their being thrown into the water.
It was eventually ascertained that those responsible for this crime were an Inspector and some fellow-officers of the Special Task Force who had visited several lodging houses in Colombo and taken Tamil youths into custody and that these youths were never seen alive again.
To cut a long and horrendous story short, although the STF officers concerned were arrested, in due course, the very unsatisfactory and shameful conclusion to the tale is in Herbie’s admission, in print, that he “didn’t know what happened to the case thereafter”!
Nor, I must add, did the public and the families of the murdered youths. Nothing could be more ironic than the fact, recorded in this memoir, that “the accused Inspector (of the STF) filed a fundamental rights application against the police officers who investigated the case”!
Herbie’s experiences make fascinating reading. He cites many other cases that spark off the reader’s instant interest due to the “inside information” provided here, which had not been available to us at the time they made news.
While he has made meticulous jottings regarding each of the innumerable investigations he undertook, Herbie’s innate sense of humour surfaces in many an account of the frailties of human nature.
On occasion, he digresses to add a little background information about some of the protagonists in the dramas he relates, and even about himself. Several of the cases he cites have far greater significance than those concerning petty frauds.
For older readers like myself, the names of once well-known public figures arrest the attention at a glance. Herbie makes no comment when justice is not seen to be done at the end of an arduous and costly investigation into the misdemeanours of some apparently privileged people.
What does come through in this book is that in this day when the public image of the Police is at its lowest ebb, it’s encouraging to know there have been Police Officers like Herbie Jayasuriya – and others - whose integrity is unquestionable.
Anne Abayasekara, (Copies of this book are available with Mr Jayasuriya – Tel. no. +94-11-2738451).
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