President tells Police at passing out parade:

Perform duties without fear or favour

Lakshmi de Silva

A number of former governments were not able to protect social and moral values of our society resulting in permissive and immoral sections to dominate and the underworld to become strong, taking advantages of the laxity of the governments.

The result was that the law abiding public had to suffer at the hands of undesirable elements but if the police force strictly performed their duties such a situation cannot exist, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday.

The President was addressing the passing out parade of police officers and men at the Police Training College, Katukurunda where 17 ASP cadets, three women cadets among them and a total of 372 including other ranks passed out.

The President said the present government started with the war on drugs and illicit alcohol under the Mathata Thitha policy and the underworld that once held sway in the country had been brought under control.

As police personnel you have been entrusted with the prevention of crime and we would expect you to perform your duties without fear or favour as the role of the police was to protect the lives and property of the public from the hands of law breakers. Since we came to power we have given the police the opportunity to control the underworld and we expect that you are joining the force to carry out your duties honestly and diligently.

“We have been able to eradicate the menace of terrorism from our country and it was the members of the police force including Inspector Bastianpillai who were killed by the terrorists in the North. Throughout the last three decades since then the Police Intelligence Division had contributed to bring the terrorists under control and finally defeat them.

Therefore the role played by the police had to be appreciated, President Rajapaksa noted. However, there were a small number of police personnel who had taken the law into their own hands or some who had taken monies offered to them by various parties including terrorists and had given a bad name to the police force.

Still money alone cannot make people happy if they had not performed their duty honestly and had resorted to immoral ways to find money. But it should be remembered that the public always sought the assistance of the police whenever they face even small problems like losing a wallet or meeting with a small accident.

Therefore, you should remember that you are the custodian of the law and the public. When you start your duties from today onwards you should love the country and be helpful to the people as they need your services,” the President noted.

First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Ministers Mahinda Samarasinghe, Attorney General Mohan Peiris, Deputy Ministers Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Nandana Gunatilake, IGP Jayantha Wickramaratne and several senior officials were also present.