brand logo

No cops or finances to set up new police stations, checkpoints

28 Oct 2022

  • 2020 plan to open over 200 cop sheds suspended
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Although the Government had initiated a programme to establish more than 200 new police stations islandwide in 2020, the establishment of the new police stations and checkpoints has been temporarily suspended due to the unavailability of the necessary financial allocations and a shortage of police officers, according to the Public Security Ministry. Speaking to The Morning, a senior official of the Ministry said that there is currently a shortage of police officers to carry out normal duties due to several reasons such as the large number of vacancies within the Police Department, medically unfit officers not being deployed for such duties, and the assignment of police officers to various other duties in the recent past. He further said: “The establishment of new police stations has been temporarily suspended at present. There are no financial allocations being made for such and there are not enough officers to be deployed. There should at least be a chair for someone who visits a police station or a checkpoint to sit on. However, it is not possible to procure even the basic facilities at present.” Speaking to The Morning recently, Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police, and Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa said that the Government had launched a programme in March 2020 to establish 209 new police stations covering all provinces, out of which 111 police stations had been declared open by March 2022. He said that by increasing the number of police stations, it will be possible to provide better service to the public and reduce crime. The Police, which consists of 43 Territorial Divisions and 67 Functional Divisions, is mainly responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law. There are 605 police stations islandwide, with more than 84,000 officers serving at present. As the country is seeing a considerable increase in crimes in the recent past, many parties are emphasising the need for the Police and other relevant agencies to work to prevent such crimes and enforce the law against perpetrators.  


More News..