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| Wednesday, 10 November 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| Clean police service vital to reduce crime, says President by Stanley Samarasinghe A proper crime prevention strategy requires a free and fair judiciary as well as a clean police service that can command public cooperation, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said yesterday. Addressing a special session of the National Advisory Council on Crime Prevention, President Kumaratunga said she conceived the concept of the national advisory council on crime prevention in a bid to curb the soaring crime rate. The President also inaugurated the Police's new 118 emergency number service. She said she strove to reduce the crime rate and bring the culprits to book during her 10-year tenure. The advisory council comprised the clergy, civil society representatives, law enforcement officers and business community representatives. She recalled that the last General Election recorded a low level of violence and crime. Many attribute this success to the work done by the Advisory Council. The President observed that the Council had taken many effective and far reaching decisions which are now being implemented to reduce the crime wave. Similar committees were being established at regional level. The public were now cooperating fully with the Police to take action crime and catch the criminals. "As President, I was keen to work towards crime prevention. But one factor that has impeded such efforts is that police had not acted properly to take action against crimes. A survey by an international organisation has revealed that corruption was rife in the police and judiciary. This is rather shameful." The President noted that the escalation of the crime wave was alarming. The open economic system had led to many evils. But the Government is trying to transform it in a manner that is suitable for a country like Sri Lanka. "Our society which respected humanity became a green pasture for criminals due to the social explosion created by an economic system that disregarded humanism and encouraged the amassing wealth by hook or by crook", President Kumaratunga said. "People murdered their parents to earn wealth, broke shrines to hunt for treasure and killed people in pursuit of treasure. They plundered public property. The police and judicial services were caught in this fray and became degraded in the process". "I cannot refrain from referring to the police force. Politicians in connivance with the police committed crimes in pursuit of riches and money. The inevitable result was the emergence of a politician worship system in place of crime eradication efforts as a sure way of promotions. There are instances of resorting to this system during the communal disturbances of 1983, when Tamils were evicted from their property and taking over of their possession by police officials some times with political backing. The police became so depraved so as to demand bribes from lorries transporting cattle to butcheries. Could a country having a police service of this nature contain anti-crime methodologies, at any rate? the President said. "It has become an extremely difficult task to select a police officer to investigate a grave crime whenever an investigation is assigned, personal friendship or political influence overtakes the issue. The first step under this condition is passing the information of the pending raid to the criminals concerned. The result of such investigations are nullified on the grounds of no tangible evidence. Such conclusions occur not because the perpetrators are innocent but because of bribes or political influence. We are unable to be rest assured that crimes can be eradicated by paying one or two hundred thousand rupees to a police officer, because the crime traffickers are prepared to pay them more. Nevertheless, I have taken steps to propose salary increments and special incentives to police officers who are genuine in their efforts to prevent crimes. Those proposals will see the light of the day in due course", President Kumaratunga said. In Singapore, strategies outside the democratic process are adopted to prevent crimes. Such strategies have proved successful. It is evident that the drop in the crime rate in that country has contributed to the development of the country. But, action outside the democratic process will turn the balance towards dictatorship. It is inevitable. We have to prevent crimes within the framework of democracy and not outside. "I consider it a great solace if I could bring about an atmosphere of a just and fair police service and a judicial system during my tenure of office. I urge the rank and file of the entire police service to come forward honestly to combat crimes in fairness to the masses at large," President Kumaratunga said. |
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