Reports that the Department of Police is shorthanded has surfaced again, with some senior officers worried about the law enforcement agency stretched thin, in the lead up to one of the most crucial Presidential Elections in recent times. 

It has been reported that the Sri Lankan police force is short-handed by about 30,000 officers. The number is staggering, given that the Sri Lanka Police nearly numbers 95,000 officers and constables. With a history more than 150 years, the Sri Lanka Police’s effectiveness and its strength has increasingly been in the spotlight over the last decade.

One of the issues which the Police faces in being short-handed is the heavy commitment it has placed on providing ‘security’ for politicians, including the 225 members of Parliament. Police officers are also widely deployed for state assets protection, by being fixed in static duties at a range of state institutions and public facilities. While the Police should patrol and maintain a presence in public spaces, the current deployment of police personnel and assets are problematic. Why the Police Department’s static guard role at many of the state institutions that are low risk, is not transferred to agencies like the ‘Civil Security Department (CSD), which has nearly 30,000 members and seeking a peace-time role to play, is unfathomable. If one were to cast their eyes across the pond to India, most of India’s state institutions and critical infrastructure are largely protected by paramilitary units like the CSD, and is managed by the Central Government. Given the long history of closely working together, the CSD is uniquely placed to help ‘plug the gaps,’ or relieve police personnel from many of the low-risk, and non-critical static guard duties.  

One of the key issues regarding how the Police is structured and deployed today, is that the Department and most of its senior officers remain entrenched in a counter-insurgency mindset from the LTTE conflict and JVP insurrections. The change in mind set that is required is happening, but too slowly. Perhaps it is the slow transition from a war-time counter insurgency mind set, and a combination of poor training, lack of regular skill retention programmes, lack of compliance and integrity checks, and due to the long standing culture of impunity, the Sri Lanka Police has a history marred with being ineffective, with allegations and proven cases on police brutality, long standing concerns of disproportionate use of force, and the general lack of accountability amongst the personnel of the Department. National- and ministerial-level leadership also reflects on the force structure and the culture within the Department. Human Rights watch dogs and the Judiciary have repeatedly called on the Police to abide by a better code of conduct. The Sri Lanka Police has to return to its traditional role, while maintaining specialist units to act on asymmetric threats, such as cyber security, counter terrorism and counter extremism.

The Department has also long been underfunded, and consecutive governments and ministers who have held the portfolio have tried out their brand of change to make the department ‘modern’ and ‘effective’. However, with the lack of a national policy on policing and law enforcement which has strong bipartisan support, the woes of the Police Department are unlikely to cease soon. In line with the public sector reforms which are ongoing, and the planned governance reforms which have been deemed relevant to ensure Sri Lanka does not find itself in a crisis again, Sri Lankan law makers and the policy making community should put on their thinking caps and come up with a workable plan to overhaul the Police Department.