POLICE SHOULD HARNESS FULL POTENTIAL TO TACKLE LAW AND ORDER IN THE FUTURE: SAGALA

The police will have to harness their full potential in tackling law and order in the country, Minister of Law and Order and Southern Regional Development Sagala Ratnayake said recently. The Minister made this remark at the conference entitled ‘future of police “

The re-establishment of a strengthened and independent National Police Commission with a constitutional mandate and comprising of eminent personalities representing diverse areas is considered as a crucial first step in modernizing the police

organised by the Police Commission and Ministry of Law and Order in Colombo recently.

“Our police force will have to harness the positive aspects of information technology; protect, preserve and enhance our environment; secure and consolidate our societies during natural and manmade disasters; remove glass ceilings that prevent women from reaching their full potential; protect our children and the vulnerable and manage religious and ethnic conflicts from reaching violent proportions,” the minister said.

“This is an enormous task to achieve. The police will need different enabling laws, new institutional mechanisms, new tactical and strategic processes, updated rules of engagement, resources and training. Most of all, both the police and us, the policy makers, will need a paradigm shift to see the role of police and the function of policing differently. No longer can we have the luxury of policing in an isolated manner from the comfort of our offices and barracks.,” he added.

He said six years after concluding the war against one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations in the world, Sri Lanka has commenced a new chapter in policing. “The re-establishment of a strengthened and independent National Police Commission with a constitutional mandate and comprising of eminent personalities representing diverse areas is considered as a crucial first step in modernizing the police. Similar to most countries in South Asia, we too face the urgent need to enhance the capacity of our police department, particularly in the areas of crime prevention and forensic investigations,” the minister said.