Daily News Editorial

Police and Sanga’s “pep talk”

26 September 2016

IGP Pujith Jayasundera should be commended for getting cricketing legend Kumar Sangakkara to ‘lecture’ to a group of his officers the other day. The former Sri Lankan captain was present at the Mirihana police, where the119 service is based, on the request of the IGP to give the officers there his views on how the service could be improved and generally share his thoughts on his experiences on the cricket field and the examples that could be drawn from these to making the service an efficient one.

Who better than Sanga, who always played with a straight bat, to offer the kind of counsel to make honest police officers out of his audience. Perhaps the IGP would have been inspired by Sanga's Lords lecture sometime ago where he pulled no punches and ruffled a few feathers in the process. Hopefully the officers present would have gained from Sanga's valuable insights. In his address to them the former Trinitian said that he was just an average cricketer during his school days and certainly not the material who one would have predicted would one day go on to wear the Sri Lankan cap. But hard work and dedication brought him to where he eventually came.

The pep talk, as it were, was indeed timely, given that the police department in recent times had not exactly endeared itself to the general public. Media reports abound about heavy handed acts of the police targeting the innocent public. The Police has also down the years become notorious for graft. During the war years there were accusations that the police arrested Tamil businessmen and released them only upon the payment of ransoms. Current investigations into ex police officers have also shown how evidence had been tampered with in high profile murder cases. The massacre of escapee prisoners in Welikada several years ago was among the blackest episodes in the history of the police. The parading of one time high ranking police officers in manacles before court houses and their being taken away in prison buses no doubt had sullied the image of the once prestigious police force.

All this no doubt impacted on the public confidence in the police. The IGP no doubt is trying to rebuild the lost image and prestige of the police force and pep talks like the one delivered by Sanga it is hoped would turn around things sooner rather than later. The ex skipper in his address to the police officers said; “Remember when people call you they are in distress. You must respect the caller and know that they depend on you. Be courteous. You are responsible to make the public happy and safe. When you do these good deeds you will feel happy”. What Sanga meant is even handedness in dealing with the public. Because today some members of the public are more equal than others. We see how easily sons of politicians who have smash ups after driving under the influence of liquor being simply released on police bail while ordinary folk have to face dire consequences.

The Sanga lecture also comes in the wake of rapid transformations and reforms being effected to the police which has now dropped its hitherto used Department tag to be renamed “Police Service”. The police, like the three armed services, dispensed with exacting standards in its recruitment drive during the war years in order to augment manpower. Invariably the bad eggs got in which may well be the reason for the police to find itself in its present bind. There is therefore an urgent need for the police o make a clear break from the war years’ mentality if it is to play the role expected of it by the public. Needless to say police service needs to undergo a complete overhaul if its honour and prestige enjoyed in the distant past is to be preserved.

With the terrorist war now only a distant memory, it is hoped the IGP would initiate measures to “humanise” the police service after shedding the war mentality that affected the police too like the military, in order to make it an essentially civilian entity. Ideally the the Police should go back to its good old days where the Khaki uniform was an object of awe and respect. For this, discipline in the service is vital.

It is true that the 30 year war saw the police force shed its law enforcement role and be sucked into the vortex of militarization. The carryover was evident in some of the third degree methods that are being used to deal with suspects in police custody and also the incidents such as that witnessed recently in Embilipitiya. The war is now long over and it is time to see the police slip back into its normal role as guardians of the law with increased rapport with the public. The IGP should resume the public relations events that were common in the prewar days, such as sporting events and other activities with public participation. He should also enlist more reputed sportsmen to have Sanga like interactions with his men, to inspire them to greater deeds.