A clean, efficient and public-oriented Police force my aim - IGP

RANIL WIJAYAPALA

Hapuarachchige Jayantha Shantha Kumara Wickremaratne hailing from Wigoda, in Gampaha in the Minuwangoda Police division started his career as Police officer as an Assistant Superintendent of Police on August 01, 1974 after his graduation from the Sri Jayawardhanapura University.

An old boy of Thurstan College, Colombo he rose to the top most position of the Police Department assuming duties as the Inspector General of Police on July 01, 2008.

He is a 58 years old father of two children. He assumed duties as the IGP at a time the Police Department is faced with many challenges.

An experienced Police officer who had observed the way the role of the Police officer transformed from a peace officer at the time of its inception in 1865 under British rule to a Police officer who carries arms and ammunition all the time as a paramilitary officer facing various challenges with the increase of terror activities.

The Police who first confronted the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna in 1971 in an armed struggle, are now sharing the responsibilities with the Armed Forces to provide security for the vital installations and VVIPs at a time LTTE is above to face crucial defeat in the Wanni following the liberation of the Eastern province.

IGP Wickremeratne is highly impressed about the performances of the Police officers who are conducting investigations into the recent bombing incidents.

"In order to motivate the Police officers who are conducting investigations in an impressive manner I gave them scholarships - specially the people who have contributed to control the LTTE activities, recovery of explosives and arms and ammunition," the IGP says in an exclusive interview with the Daily News.

He is also worried about the bad image the people are having about the Police Department and vowed to take action to rectify this situation.

He also solicited public assistance to furnish information with regard to the LTTE activities not only through 118 and 119 but personally to him through his fax number 2446174.

Following is the full interview the Daily News had with the IGP at the Police Headquarters.

Q:In your opinion what is the primary role of the Police in the current context of the security situation in which the Security Forces have defeated the LTTE in the East and pushed them into a weakest position in Wanni with the liberation of many areas ?

A: The Army has captured the Eastern province with the assistance of the STF, Navy and the Air Force. Our priority is to give all assistance and fullest cooperation to maintain law and order in those areas. In short, it is our baby now. They have captured and handed over the area to us.

We established 12 Police stations in the Eastern sector and we enlisted Tamil and Muslim Police officers from the area to be deployed for the Police stations in the Eastern Province which was one of the impressive records in the entire Police service.

For the first time in the Police history we created a Police Training School for Tamil Police officers in Kalladi, Batticaloa. A decision was taken to post these Police officers to the Eastern province to avoid language problems to look after their own problems which had helped us to avoid the language barrier. For the Sinhalese Police officers we had to give Tamil language training courses. That was the most impressive step taken by this Government.

The other challenge for me is, the establishment of the new Police stations, Police posts with the new victory in Wanni and Mannar areas. We have started establishing new Police stations in Madhu and Viddathalthivu areas. My other challenge is to provide required personnel and logistical requirement to the 32 proposed Police stations in these newly captured areas.

We have already identified the priority areas such as creating a DIG range in Mullaitivu, posting of SSPs in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Mankulam and establishments of Police Posts, Police stations and ASP offices. As a top priority we have decided to enlist Police personnel from all parts of the island, irrespective of their ethnic group to cater to this requirement.

Weekly enlistment programmes had provided ample enlistment from all parts of the country and our training schools are full of trainees. In the year 2002 to 2005 there was no enlistment to the Police due to the policy decision taken by the then Government.

I have to give top priority to fill the vacuum during that period also in addition to the new requirement. Thanks to the intervention of the President and the Secretary Defence since 2005 up to date the Police Department has enlisted more than 16,000 personnel - men and women to the Department.

Q: Transparency International has branded the Police Department as one of the most corrupt institution in Sri Lanka. That is not a good image to the Police Service. What are the steps you can take to rectify this situation ?

A: Another priority for me is to clear the wrong impression among the public about police officers. As mentioned by you Transparency International has branded the Police Department as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. In order to beat this challenge I have already decided to create a special vision among Police officers. That is Dignified Police Service Through Enhancement of Police Public Relationship. When you are away from the public, they will not provide information to you with regard to crimes and other suspicious activities. When you are with the people the public will furnish not only the information pertaining to the crimes, they will provide information about corrupt Police officers. To win the confidence of the public we have to act in a transparent manner and the public has to be requested that you are contactable always and you are acting on their behalf. It is a very vital requirement in the Police service. Our top priority is to establish an honest Police service. Honesty is the most important thing in the Police career and honesty will help you to build a name in the society. I am highly advocating this principle.

Q:What are the progressive steps you have taken to stop these corrupt practices among Police officers ?

A: In order to avoid corrupt practices I have introduced an impressive reward system. Reward is the money they earned through contributions. Whenever, they detect a case the Court will fine the suspect. The Court will impose a fine and the half of the fine will go to the Police Rewards Fund. This reward money is contributed by the all ranks of Police officers from lowest to the highest. It is my duty to give a very impressive share of this money to the Police officers who detect most noteworthy cases. The most recent example is the Horton Place bomb blast. For the two Policemen who directed the bus towards an isolated area before the explosion I donated Rs.100,000 each in order to enlighten the other persons. Whenever they detect a good case we paid them money from the Reward Fund lavishly.

People who detected 320 Kg of TNT explosives from Nuwara Eliya were given rewards. Money as well as promotions, special increments and also scholarships. Our top priority is to tackle these LTTE activities. Because when you have sufficient manpower, when you have sufficient requirement it is up to you to encourage your Police officers to conduct more operations against the LTTE. I am happy during this year from January 01 to September 15 2008 we detected 4,070 Kg TNT and C4 deadly explosives from all parts of the island. This is due to the encouragement and the brave performances of our men against the LTTE threat to them and their families. We managed to conduct the SAARC conference without a single incident.

Q:But there had been instances Police officers had engaged in fraudulent acts to get rewards and promotions. How do you tackle this situation ?

A:It is true that several corrupt practices have taken place and inquiries are being conducted. But these inquiries are not yet completed and we have not yet identified the culprits. In order to avoid such allegations and charges we have streamlined the system and I am personally monitoring the granting of rewards. I have introduced a rapid rewards system to reward them speedily.

Q: The Police Department has also been branded as one of the highly politicised institutions in the country. There had been instances where Police had suspended investigations into some cases due to pressure from politicians. How are you going to manage this situation ?

A: Political interference has to be ignored hundred per cent by the Police officers as this will result in impartial investigations turning into partial investigations. I have already introduced a system under the able guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to advise politicians who engage in various acts of corruption. And also Police officers who had backbones and the Police officers who had acted efficiently were given full backing not to cater to such politicians. And the National Police Commission has helped me to ignore the political influence by introducing a selection criteria to face this situation. Under that selection criteria prepared by the National Police Commission people who are qualified to hold Police posts will be posted. Not henchmen nominated by the politicians.

Q: There is criticism towards the Police for ignoring complaints on minor offenses without investigating them. This situation has led to a situation for offenders to of minor crimes to commit major crimes. What is your observation on this ?

A: I can agree with your observation. What I am targeting is minor crimes have to be tackled promptly to avoid major crimes. For example the Police failed to detect the Sakvithi scam at the initial stages. Even some Police officers worked hand in hand with the criminals. I immediately took action to transfer the corrupt Police officers who were engaged in this. We arrested Inspector Pushpakumara who was evading arrest after being involved with Sakvithi Ranasinghe, due to my personal intervention. Another Police officer was handling crimes committed by the Security Guard attached to Minister Jeewan Kumaratungas's Ministerial Security Division. He will be arrested very soon and warrants have already been obtained. And also the officer who handled this investigation and done several lapses and acted to favour this Sub Inspector was transferred on an order given by me. The Public informed me about these investigations.

In addition to that major investigations such as investigations into Major General (Rtd) Janaka Perera's killing, the Sakvithi case were handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct the investigations impartially, efficiently and methodically.

Q: Statistics indicate that the Police has been unable to prove the cases before courts though they arrest offenders in large numbers.

According to reports only four per cent of offenders are being convicted in the Courts due to the failure of the Police to handle these cases in Courts. What is the reason for this situation ?

A: I agree. Less attention was given to the prosecution part and the same had led to the cases filed in Courts. We have started conducting special training programmes in all the In-service Training Centres to train men for this purpose on a priority basis. Action has been taken to solicit the assistance of the Attorney General's Department to obtain the services of judicial officers to conduct such programmes.

Q:The Police carried out a census on the North and East civilians who have been temporarily living in Colombo. There was criticism that this was the first step towards removing them from Colombo. What was the outcome of the census ?

A: We conducted this census on arrivals from North-East giving wide publicity. We never mentioned about any particular ethnic group. We gave wide publicity to general public who came from Northern and Eastern provinces. We never categorise them as Tamils or Muslims.

respect of North and East even some ousted Sinhalese people came as well as Muslims. I personally handled this operation as Secretary Defence was very keen to have an effective census. We identified nearby schools to hold the census. We had a cordial atmosphere with the Tamil community who were the majority and the public were very happy about the way we conducted the census. None of the newspapers or media complained or mentioned about the any harassment of civilians. We are hoping to conduct one more census in the Western province for the public who had come to this area from upcountry. And also people who came to Puttalam district from North and East.

Q: There were a number of Supreme Court judgments ordering the Police to remove road blocks and barriers. What are the implications on the security situation after these judgments ?

A: With these judgments the security situation has changed. Suicide bombings took place in Boralesgamuwa Police area, Colombo city and places like Anuradhapura. We have to consider these situations and also bring it to the notice of the Supreme Court as it is our duty to present these new developments.

Also, as experienced Police officers we have to anticipate the coming period as the Army is about to capture Kilinochchi area. With that victory there can be serious incidents such as bombings by disgruntled LTTE elements. In most instances they were targeting innocent civilians such as people who travel in public transport, people living in threatened villages and also people in public offices. In such instances the primary task of the Police is to take possible action to provide maximum security to the innocent public as well as Army personnel and Police personnel targeted by the LTTE. Since they have failed to target them in the war front they are targeting the innocent Forces personnel who are moving to their places like Vavuniya and Colombo near Sambudhdhaloka Vihara. So we have to introduce new measures. We have to take all possible actions to prevent such occurrences. We have planned to inform the Supreme Court about these new developments and introduce new security measures.

Q: There is criticism that the Police officers were facing a disadvantageous situation following the absorption of the Police Reserve Force to the Police Service. What steps have you taken to rectify the grievances of these Police officers ?

A: In general it was a blessing in disguise. The majority of Police officers had completed long years of service but were not given any chance to have their promotions. My hats off to the President for introducing that scheme.

It helped a lot of Police officers nearly 20,000 to get their long overdue promotions. That system under the Mahinda Chinthana programme provides an opportunity to get their promotions from completion of their long service. It is true that there had been errors and lapses in this entire process. However, most of these problems were sorted out in consultation with the affected parties.

Q: There is another complaint that there are delays in conducting disciplinary inquiries in the Police Department. This has led to unrest among the Police officers. What are the steps you have taken to remedy this situation ?

A: There had been instances where disciplinary inquires were dragging for years and years due to the lapses in the administrative system. It is being rectified as most of these delays were due to the administrative problems. Top priority has been given to complete these long overdue disciplinary inquires.

Q: Very recently a large number of Fundamental Rights cases were filed against the Police officers when conducting investigations into incidents. How do you face this situation ?

A: At the inception a lot of fundamental rights cases were filed against Police officers. However, thanks to the intervention of the President to brief the Police officers to respect human rights Police officers were briefed at Police station level and also several Human Rights training courses were conducted at the Police In-service Training Centres. And also action has been taken on serious violations on a very effective basis by prosecuting those officers. Also Police officers were charged under the Cruelty Act for torture to minimise the number of such incidents. Due to these actions since 2005 the number of complaints has reduced. Also Tamil language training classes were started with the assistance of SLIDA, BMICH Education Centre NGOs.

Q:What is the progress of the investigations into the suicide bombing incident especially the incident involving in Major General Janaka Perera in Anuradhapura, and the one targeting Minister Maitripala Sirisena ?

A: Major General Janaka Perera's case is being conducted by the most qualified institution the CID. They were asked to take over the investigations and they are conducting investigations from last Friday. In respect of other investigations we managed to solve the cases, evidences was readily available by detecting the sim card of the mobile phone used by the suicide cadre.

In respect of the Boralesgamuwa incident and in respect of the Sambuddhaloka Vihara incident we conducted investigations in an impressive way and recovered nearly 4000 Kgs of explosive by questioning suspects and also detected suicide kits, side charges, claymore mines, micro pistols and unearthed a lot of networks operating in the area.

I wish to pay my gratitude to the Police officers who acted bravely to unearth these crimes and also I would like to pay my gratitude to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for giving personal guidance and assistance on daily to conduct investigations in coordination with the intelligence officers of the Armed Services.

This coordination has helped us to work in an very effective manner under his supervision. That was the success of the ending of SAARC duties in an impressive manner without an incident.

Q: Following the illicit liquor incident in Weliveriya, there were allegations that it was Police inaction that led to this situation. What are your comments on this ?

A:Allow me to explain this situation. There are separate Departments to handle various tasks to entrusted to Police Department.

Number one the Excise Department is there to handle illicit liquor and violations of the Excise Act. The Forest Department is there to detect the violations of Forest Ordnance.

Price Control Officers are there to enforce the Price Control Act. Abuse of children and women is a matter for the Social Services Department as well as the Child Protection Authority.

In spite of all these agencies we are also conducting raids. The General Public are under the impression that all these incidents are a result of police inaction. None of them is talking about the inaction of these respective institutions. I want to bring it to the notice that in addition to maintaining law and order, prosecuting offenders before the Court, taking action against crimes, handling traffic, deploying men for road blocks and bunker duties the Police is the only institution to tackle these things.

Q: What are your plans to expand the Police service ?

A:Our Police stations are having a depleted strength. The population is getting increased day by day in all Police divisions. But the manpower is not increasing on par with the increasing population. Their commitments are increasing. Take places like Nugegoda, Horana, Athurugiriya. With the establishment of Millennium City housing scheme the total population has increased rapidly but the Police station strength has not increased rapidly. Because we were focusing mainly on the providing strength to the Eastern Police stations. Now we are identifying the requirements in other areas. End of this month I am posting men to Badulla, Matale, Kegalle and Anuradhapura areas to provide additional manpower for their day today duties.

Because day today activities cannot be performed without a sufficient strength. We have to guard the road blocks, we have to guard the bunkers, provide security to the VVIPs.

Then we do not have strength to do the normal duties. Whenever, complaints are there it is our duty to send the people the same day. Otherwise major crimes will take place. I am giving top priority to 2650 who are undergoing training - they will be deployed in identified areas where there is a shortage of strength.