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Sri Lankan President Calls for New Vision for Police
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has called for a new vision for the police force in the war-torn country where separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting against government forces in the north and east for an independent Tamil homeland, the state-run Daily News said Tuesday.
Laying the foundation stone for a new police academy named after her mother, late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, at a cost of 600 million rupees (around 7.06 million US dollars), the president said on Monday that the Sri Lankan police force had much more to be done than other police forces in the world due to the long drawnout war in the country.
She wanted the force to be restructured to meet challenges efficiently, effectively and professionally and eradicate all crimes.
The president said that since the country's independence from British colonial rule more than 50 years ago the police force had remained stagnant and was not restructured to meet changing needs.
Today the police were called on to do functions of the armed forces as well due to the ongoing war. Accordingly their outlook has had to change, she said.
Kumaratunga said crime in the country had decreased since the ruling People's Alliance came to power in 1994, contrary to media reports.
She was in dialogue with top police officials to further reduce the incidents of crime. Narcotics and illicit liquor were other problems that they were looking into, she said.
The police force in the country has 68,000 men and women.
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