Police-public rapport

The point made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa for greater rapport between the police, the public and political representatives towards a better law and order scenario cannot be overemphasised in a climate where the topic of law and order has spiralled out of its conventional straitjacket and assumed new dimensions.

Gone are the days when a murder in some remote hamlet would have stunned a nation and formed headlines in the national press for weeks and some famous homicide gave the kavi kola karayas of yore a roaring business.

No doubt the brutalisation of society as a result of the conflict and the resultant gun culture we are witnessing today has contributed to the conventional law and order picture being blown out of its moorings complicating the law enforcement process.

The changed scenario has also seen the emergence of different actors hitherto not thought of as villains and offenses that had never figured before in police log books.

Time was when the sight of law enforcement officers in uniform sent shivers down the spines of not only the ordinary criminal but also evoked awe and respect even among the law abiding citizenry. This was also a time when the Police Department was independent of political meddling and undue influence which gave leeway to its officers to perform their duties with efficiency and dispatch.

Alas as with other public sector institutions the police Department too underwent a drastic change with the passage of time both institutionally as well as capacity wise. While today the Police Department has grown in strength and boasts of the latest state of the art equipment its service to the general public has not seen a corresponding growth.

As a result the public by and large have been distanced and alienated from the police and what was once an essentially civilian law enforcement unit has today been sucked into the milieu of national security in addition to its conventional role and identity.

Hence the President's emphasis on the need for turning the clock back and making the police service essentially a law enforcement unit that circulates more and more among the public maintaining healthy interaction and rapport with the latter. This would no doubt bring it more into the orbit of the public.

True, as with all other sectors the police service too underwent a drastic change with the advent of the open economy that saw a hitherto routine service confronted with new pressures and challenges, the chief among which was the tackling of the drugs problem and the smuggling of contraband.

The police service was no doubt ill equipped at the time to deal with an emerging mafia which had political backing and inevitably succumbed to pressure. It was not equipped to deal with the rash of white collar crime that was common under the new dispensation which all went towards undermining the service.

Therefore much needs to be done to bring our police service to the efficient conscientious force for which it had earned a name in those specious days.

Admittedly the passage of time had brought with new challenges and pressures to bear on the service but it has to be equipped and geared to breach the new frontiers of the 21st century, What is urgently required is a modern police force which would be equal to the task of meeting these challenges head on and rid society of the multifarious dimensions of crime and offence it is today confronted with. Above all it should be made a civilian friendly force essentially deployed to fight and tackle local crime.

The present security situation has to a large degree detracted the police from its main role of maintaining law and order and settling civilian disputes.

The President's insistence on greater rapport with the public it is hoped will rekindle this public spiritedness of the Police force.

As mentioned by the President politicians too could play a part in bringing the police closer to the public through various avenues of interaction which in turn would go a long way towards realising the President's desire for a crime-free, law abiding society.