The constitutional proposals and the police

By Edward Gunawardena

The existing System of Policing in Sri Lanka dates back to Colonial times. The Police Dept., is the premier law-enforcement authority. Its duties and powers are defined in the Police Ordinance of 1865 and other statutes such as the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.

It is also regulated by a comprehensive disciplinary code and a set of Departmental Orders which have undergone changes and refinements through the Police Gazette over a period of more than hundred years.

The socio-political changes that began in the late fifties which continue todate have had a profound impact on the Police. Public attitudes have changed immensely and the demands on the Police have increased in leaps and bounds.

With the exacerbation of ethnic tensions in the past two decades resulting in mass violence of an unprecedented nature and brutal acts of terrorism, the Police today has effectively become a para-military arm of the State. Conventional policing has taken a back seat.

Ad hoc changes in the organizational structure, mass recruitment necessitating the lowering of entry standards, inadequacies of training and unplanned and ill-conceived promotions, transfers and retirements have had a telling effect on the discipline, efficiency and reputation of the service; not to mention the morale of the few officers struggling against virtually insurmountable odds to maintain the once cherished standards of the Service. Successive governments of the recent past have to take the responsibility for this tragic decline.

In recent times, inter alia the Police have been accused of:

1. Acting under political pressure in the execution of their duties. 2. Obstructing free and fair elections, even to the extent of assisting certain politicians in the rigging of ballots and the prevention of voters from exercising their right to vote. 3. Actively supporting thuggery and underworld activities at the behest of politicians. 4. Supporting illicit activities such as the felling of State timber and the distilling of 'kasippu' by politicians or their henchmen. 5. Harassing individuals or groups including journalists to win the favours of politicians. 6. Suppressing crime for political reasons etc., etc.

In turn, politicians have been accused of:

1. Interference with the Police. 2. Stifling the independence of the IGP. 3. Harassing duty conscious and honest officers by transfers, deprival of promotions etc. 4. Sponsoring corrupt officers for promotions or transfers to better stations/posts.

With the relegation of efficiency and incorruptibility as the essential prerequisites for career advancement, power-struggles characterized by cut-throatism within the Department have become the order of the day.

Extensions of Service have come to be considered as rewards, where 'loyalty' in its manifold interpretations is the sole criterion. One cannot forget how even adverse judicial decisions or strictures passed by the Supreme Court did not have any impact on the career advancement of favoured officers.

Needless to say this is a highly dangerous trend. Regrettably, no leader in power in recent times has made an honest effort to take up the challenge.

It is important to ask ourselves why this unfortunate situation has arisen. A complete answer is likely to run into volumes. To be brief, I believe it is because the Police is the most visible coercive arm of governance. It is symbolic of the power of the State and in our country politicians have come to believe that the individual power and popularity of a politician depends on his ability to flout the law, have conspicuous Police presence around him in public, to get the Police to harass his opponents, to protect his supporters and illicit financiers from Police action or even get criminals in the custody of the Police released.

Unfortunately, many of the numerous tasks that a politician has to undertake to face the hustings successfully also lend themselves easily to aggravate this scenario. Meetings have to be organized. Crowds transported.

Gangs of thugs who have to be fed and served with liquor are required to paste posters and disfigure or remove the posters of opponents. Hooligans are also required to disrupt the meetings of opponents or waylay vehicles on their way to such meetings.

Indeed it is a tragedy, that one has to orchestrate all these unlawful activities if he is to be successful in an election. Now for all these it is absolutely essential for a politician to have the goodwill of the police and I must say that corrupt Police officers revel in this situation. With protection guaranteed the daring Police officers make hay, the spineless just cave in and those who resist fade away.

What I have attempted to outline briefly is a scenario in which power hungry politicians thrive on the support of the Police who in turn become corrupt and inefficient. The cumulative effect is the breakdown of law and order driving the citizen to a state of fear and insecurity. The writing is on the wall. There is a clear and present danger to democracy itself. Future polls in this country will prove me right.

Perhaps you will wonder why I have dealt at length with the existing situation. It is simply to make you understand what is in store for the country if the Select Committee proposals on Law and Order come into effect. Will the Law and Order situation improve?

Or will an already chaotic condition worsen? These should be the questions of the uppermost concern for every citizen of the Republic. My answer to the first question is a definite 'No' and to the second, a resounding 'Yes'.

Chapter XXII of the Select Committee Report on Constitutional Reforms presented to Parliament on 24.10.97 bears the Sub-heading: Defence, National Security and Law and Order. This is perhaps the most important single chapter in the Report. I say so because the Preamble to the proposed Constitution pictures the people of this great Sri Lankan Civilization as an inhuman, quarrelsome, warring species living in disharmony and distrust in a savage state devoid of a stable legal order.

It is sad indeed that the framers of this draft have paid scant respect to our great heritage and chosen to casually kick our proud history of over 2 1/2 millennia into the dustbin of history.

Not a single Article or Section of this chapter is intended to make the Police more independent, professional and efficient. The impression I get is that these proposed reforms have been cleverly formulated to make the Police more subservient to politicians.

In their enthusiasm to devolve Police powers to the Regions, Police efficiency and law and order have been overlooked. This sell out of the Police is unpardonable. The likely fallout is a frightening prospect.

No Police officer worth his salt would like to take orders from and be answerable to two masters.

The above are only a few of the foreseeable problem areas. It is obvious that very little thought has gone into this draft chapter. Apparently no consultations have been made with experienced, knowledgeable persons in the field of Police Administration. No doubt an attempt has been made by Article 218 to make room for administrative manipulation that can bring about some degree of cooperation between the National Police Service and the Regional Police Services.

But co-operation is not a one way process. It must flow out of a sincere desire on the part of all concerned to achieve a common objective. If the objectives are at variance there can be no cooperation.

The worrying problem is, do all the proposed Regions without exception have the common objective of remaining united, sharing the mutual benefits of such unity. Your guess is good as mine. Regional Police Services will doubtless fall in line with the policies and attitudes of the political leadership of the respective Regions. This is a factor which must necessarily affect inter-regional police cooperation as well as the relations with the National Police.

These proposals which envisage a Union of Regions, which I believe is only another label for a Federal State are certainly not the outcome of a desire for unity among the Regions. It is a monumentally wasteful exercise by a section of the leadership of this country to placate the Tamil political parties all of which are committed to separatism. The government which is dependent on their votes for survival has virtually been blackmailed to provide them with a launching pad to achieve their ultimate goal.

With Regionalism, the fuse will be lit. The chaotic state of the country's Police and the volatile law and order situation that will result from the implementation of the proposals in Chapter XXII will be the catalysts for that predictable catastrophic explosion that will liquidate this historic island State of Sri Lanka.

(Edward Gunawardena BA Hons. (Ceylon) MSc. (Michigan) was a Fulbright Scholar in Police Administration. In the Sri Lanka Police Dept., he held the posts of Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Administration; Deputy Inspector General of Police Colombo Metropolitan Region; Director of Intelligence & Senior Supdt., of Police, Trincomalee).

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