Early this week, State Minister of Vehicle Regulation, Bus Transport Services, and Train Compartments and Motor Car Industry Dilum Amunugama was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the State Minister for Community Police Services, with the aim of further strengthening the country’s police force in dealing with the public.
According to Amunugama, who spoke with The Morning on 3 May, this new appointment had been made by the President taking into consideration the problematic situations that arose in the country in the recent past between the Police and the public. Amunugama further said that the President seeks to rectify this situation through the creation and promotion of a healthy environment between the law enforcement agencies and the public.
As per Amunugama, a number of conflicts between the Police and the public had been reported, and he added that the President also believes in obtaining the support of the public in order to eradicate social ills such as the drug menace plaguing the country.
However, Amunugama was not reachable yesterday (4) to comment on his future plans.
Today’s Spotlight looks into the concept of community policing, which plays an integral role when it comes to building a fruitful, mutually beneficial relationship between the country’s police force and the public.
[caption id="attachment_133912" align="alignright" width="632"]
Dilum Amunugama was sworn in as the State Minister for Community Police Services before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday(4) morning[/caption]
Community policing and police-community relationship
Even though the topic of community policing, or police-community collaboration aimed at addressing the issues affecting society, received attention after the appointment of Amunugama, the concept of community policing existed in Sri Lanka even before, and the relationship between the Police and the public has been discussed for a long time on many occasions. In fact, the Police Department has a dedicated unit called the Community Policing Division, which works more closely with the public than other divisions of the department.
Even though The Morning made several attempts to contact Police Media Spokesman Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ajith Rohana to discuss the true nature of community policing in Sri Lanka, he was not reachable. However, according to sources, the existing Community Policing Division has several objectives including contributing to ensuring national security, promoting environmental conservation, preventing and curbing crimes, eradicating drugs and corruption, establishing harmony among the different ethnicities and religions, and disaster management.
A unit dedicated to carrying out the duties pertaining to community policing has been established at every police station in Sri Lanka, along with special committees, called community safety committees, which are in operation in all 14,022 grama niladhari divisions in the country under the Community Policing Division.
The overall objective of this division is to assist the public and uplift their lives, while getting closer to them and winning their trust, and the main approach is to achieve the said objectives while getting the support of the public as well, it was learnt.
Community policing
The concept of community policing has been adopted by a large number of countries around the globe, and it essentially refers to a cordial and mutually beneficial collaboration between the police force and the public that engages in, among other things, identifying issues existing in the community, discussing possible solutions, and taking necessary steps to resolve the identified issues.
The concept was introduced with several objectives, including using the community members’ knowledge about the ground-level situations in order to curb crimes, building a meaningful relationship between the law enforcement agencies and the community, taking preventive measures by identifying the ways and possibilities of crimes happening in identified communities, resolving minor community-level issues cordially and collaboratively without seeking advanced legal action, making community members active participants of the process of law enforcement, and ensuring that policy-level decisions taken by the law enforcement agencies address and include real-life issues faced by community members.
Community policing has been identified as an effective method that helps to prevent and identify in advance, both minor and major crimes, and it depends on the information received from members of the community who act as informants.
According to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) of the US Justice Department, community policing comprises three main components, namely, community partnerships (collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency and the individuals and organisations they serve, to develop solutions to problems and to increase trust in the Police), organisational transformation (alignment of organisational management, structure, personnel, and information systems to support community partnerships and proactive problem-solving), and problem-solving (the process of engaging in the proactive and systematic examination of identified problems to develop and evaluate effective responses).
In addition to the general public, community policing may also involve building partnerships with various groups, service providers, non-profit entities, private businesses, and the media, according to the COPS.
Police-community relationship: Status quo
The relationship between the police force and the public has been in a questionable state for a long time, and the public perception about police officers is a rather negative one and varies depending on their experience with the Police.
These sentiments were expressed by the Executive Director of the Right to Life Human Rights Centre – a civil society organisation striving to promote and strengthen fundamental human rights and which works extensively on the proper enforcement of police powers with a focus on combating police torture – Phillip Dissanayake.
He said that due to certain incidents that took place in the recent past, the relationship between the Police and the public in Sri Lanka has been severely damaged and is in a very weak state, and that the two parties are nowhere near being as close to each other as they should.
Dissanayake stressed that the relationship between the two parties is not a friendly one, and that this situation is a result of a series of unfavourable events that have been going on for a long time.
He added: “The main objective of establishing the Police is to protect and serve the public, and these objectives are the same in any country. However, when it comes to Sri Lanka’s situation, it is completely different. In fact, when looking at this situation through the eyes of the public, it is obvious that they have a widespread fear of the Police. The public have a fear that the Police may assault them, cause issues to them, or file groundless cases against them.”
He noted that in the case of several riots that took place in the country on various occasions, the public is well aware of the manner in which the Police had acted during those incidents. “Such experiences have, in turn, triggered a fear among the public,” he noted.
Dissanayake added: “According to reports we have received with regard to the Police’s conduct when dealing with the public, we can say that the public’s fear is reasonable. The Police was not formed to create that type of an impression (fear); but, unfortunately, that is the nature of the understanding the public has about the Police.”
The concept of community policing can be useful, if implemented properly, and can help restore the trust in the public, according to Dissanayake. He explained: “The concept of community policing is a good concept which can be useful in order to change the current situation, and many have grave concerns as to how the police officers are maintaining their relationship with the public. There are instances where the implementation of the concept of community policing resulted in good developments. The collaboration between the Police and the public has sometimes been very useful in resolving issues in its initial stage, before it could become more serious. That is the type of relationship Sri Lanka should maintain and develop. The conduct of certain police officers, especially when investigating offences, is what creates a good or bad impression about the Police among the public, and the circumstances I described have created a certain enmity between the two parties.”
He noted that a community policing system that encourages the aforementioned negative activities by police officers is not what is needed for Sri Lanka, and that owing to the circumstances that have resulted in the existing situation, officers implementing community policing services will also have to make some effort to win the trust of the public.
“According to the public’s understanding of the community policing service, they are mostly or solely engaged in gathering information from the community. But it has to be extended beyond that. A country cannot move forward or develop without a good police force, and the public has to intervene in order to ensure that the country has a good police force. Not every police officer takes the law into their hands. In fact, there are a large number of police officers who enforce the law properly. However, due to the actions of those misusing or breaking the law, the good deeds of good police officers often go unnoticed. What we should endeavour to do is to help create a better police force in Sri Lanka. It is also a responsibility of the public. Until and unless the public realise their responsibility in this connection, it would be difficult to expect a police force that deals with the public cordially. In order to achieve that, we have to work hard, and at present, we do not see any pressing signs on the part of the Police.”
To bring about a positive change, the police force, rulers, and also the public should understand and fulfil their responsibilities, he stressed.
In Sri Lanka, the relationship between the Police and the public has received more criticism than admiration, and recent incidents involving the Police using excessive force against civilians and inmates have tarnished the name of not only those responsible for them, but also the name of the entire police force and police officers who act in accordance with the law.
Even though a reform aimed at making the police force and the public closer may require a long time and massive amounts of resources, according to the activist who spoke with us, community policing, or ordinary police officers dealing with the public on a daily basis for that matter, can make a huge difference by starting from the grassroots level. After all, long journeys are made up of small steps.
Dilum Amunugama was sworn in as the State Minister for Community Police Services before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday(4) morning[/caption]
Community policing and police-community relationship
Even though the topic of community policing, or police-community collaboration aimed at addressing the issues affecting society, received attention after the appointment of Amunugama, the concept of community policing existed in Sri Lanka even before, and the relationship between the Police and the public has been discussed for a long time on many occasions. In fact, the Police Department has a dedicated unit called the Community Policing Division, which works more closely with the public than other divisions of the department.
Even though The Morning made several attempts to contact Police Media Spokesman Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ajith Rohana to discuss the true nature of community policing in Sri Lanka, he was not reachable. However, according to sources, the existing Community Policing Division has several objectives including contributing to ensuring national security, promoting environmental conservation, preventing and curbing crimes, eradicating drugs and corruption, establishing harmony among the different ethnicities and religions, and disaster management.
A unit dedicated to carrying out the duties pertaining to community policing has been established at every police station in Sri Lanka, along with special committees, called community safety committees, which are in operation in all 14,022 grama niladhari divisions in the country under the Community Policing Division.
The overall objective of this division is to assist the public and uplift their lives, while getting closer to them and winning their trust, and the main approach is to achieve the said objectives while getting the support of the public as well, it was learnt.
Community policing
The concept of community policing has been adopted by a large number of countries around the globe, and it essentially refers to a cordial and mutually beneficial collaboration between the police force and the public that engages in, among other things, identifying issues existing in the community, discussing possible solutions, and taking necessary steps to resolve the identified issues.
The concept was introduced with several objectives, including using the community members’ knowledge about the ground-level situations in order to curb crimes, building a meaningful relationship between the law enforcement agencies and the community, taking preventive measures by identifying the ways and possibilities of crimes happening in identified communities, resolving minor community-level issues cordially and collaboratively without seeking advanced legal action, making community members active participants of the process of law enforcement, and ensuring that policy-level decisions taken by the law enforcement agencies address and include real-life issues faced by community members.
Community policing has been identified as an effective method that helps to prevent and identify in advance, both minor and major crimes, and it depends on the information received from members of the community who act as informants.
According to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) of the US Justice Department, community policing comprises three main components, namely, community partnerships (collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency and the individuals and organisations they serve, to develop solutions to problems and to increase trust in the Police), organisational transformation (alignment of organisational management, structure, personnel, and information systems to support community partnerships and proactive problem-solving), and problem-solving (the process of engaging in the proactive and systematic examination of identified problems to develop and evaluate effective responses).
In addition to the general public, community policing may also involve building partnerships with various groups, service providers, non-profit entities, private businesses, and the media, according to the COPS.
Police-community relationship: Status quo
The relationship between the police force and the public has been in a questionable state for a long time, and the public perception about police officers is a rather negative one and varies depending on their experience with the Police.
These sentiments were expressed by the Executive Director of the Right to Life Human Rights Centre – a civil society organisation striving to promote and strengthen fundamental human rights and which works extensively on the proper enforcement of police powers with a focus on combating police torture – Phillip Dissanayake.
He said that due to certain incidents that took place in the recent past, the relationship between the Police and the public in Sri Lanka has been severely damaged and is in a very weak state, and that the two parties are nowhere near being as close to each other as they should.
Dissanayake stressed that the relationship between the two parties is not a friendly one, and that this situation is a result of a series of unfavourable events that have been going on for a long time.
He added: “The main objective of establishing the Police is to protect and serve the public, and these objectives are the same in any country. However, when it comes to Sri Lanka’s situation, it is completely different. In fact, when looking at this situation through the eyes of the public, it is obvious that they have a widespread fear of the Police. The public have a fear that the Police may assault them, cause issues to them, or file groundless cases against them.”
He noted that in the case of several riots that took place in the country on various occasions, the public is well aware of the manner in which the Police had acted during those incidents. “Such experiences have, in turn, triggered a fear among the public,” he noted.
Dissanayake added: “According to reports we have received with regard to the Police’s conduct when dealing with the public, we can say that the public’s fear is reasonable. The Police was not formed to create that type of an impression (fear); but, unfortunately, that is the nature of the understanding the public has about the Police.”
The concept of community policing can be useful, if implemented properly, and can help restore the trust in the public, according to Dissanayake. He explained: “The concept of community policing is a good concept which can be useful in order to change the current situation, and many have grave concerns as to how the police officers are maintaining their relationship with the public. There are instances where the implementation of the concept of community policing resulted in good developments. The collaboration between the Police and the public has sometimes been very useful in resolving issues in its initial stage, before it could become more serious. That is the type of relationship Sri Lanka should maintain and develop. The conduct of certain police officers, especially when investigating offences, is what creates a good or bad impression about the Police among the public, and the circumstances I described have created a certain enmity between the two parties.”
He noted that a community policing system that encourages the aforementioned negative activities by police officers is not what is needed for Sri Lanka, and that owing to the circumstances that have resulted in the existing situation, officers implementing community policing services will also have to make some effort to win the trust of the public.
“According to the public’s understanding of the community policing service, they are mostly or solely engaged in gathering information from the community. But it has to be extended beyond that. A country cannot move forward or develop without a good police force, and the public has to intervene in order to ensure that the country has a good police force. Not every police officer takes the law into their hands. In fact, there are a large number of police officers who enforce the law properly. However, due to the actions of those misusing or breaking the law, the good deeds of good police officers often go unnoticed. What we should endeavour to do is to help create a better police force in Sri Lanka. It is also a responsibility of the public. Until and unless the public realise their responsibility in this connection, it would be difficult to expect a police force that deals with the public cordially. In order to achieve that, we have to work hard, and at present, we do not see any pressing signs on the part of the Police.”
To bring about a positive change, the police force, rulers, and also the public should understand and fulfil their responsibilities, he stressed.
In Sri Lanka, the relationship between the Police and the public has received more criticism than admiration, and recent incidents involving the Police using excessive force against civilians and inmates have tarnished the name of not only those responsible for them, but also the name of the entire police force and police officers who act in accordance with the law.
Even though a reform aimed at making the police force and the public closer may require a long time and massive amounts of resources, according to the activist who spoke with us, community policing, or ordinary police officers dealing with the public on a daily basis for that matter, can make a huge difference by starting from the grassroots level. After all, long journeys are made up of small steps.