IS POLITICAL INTERFERENCE THE CAUSE FOR RISING CRIME?

A senior retired police officer has charged that the police are being impeded from doing their work due to political interference that has time and again, come to the aid of underworld gangs; but the minister in charge of law and order has dismissed the claim, saying no such nexus exists under the present government.

Retired Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya told the Sunday Times that deterioration of the law and order situation was primarily due to political interference that was obstructing the police from carrying out their duties. Many key matters involving the police, such as transfers, disciplinary inquiries and other actions were subject to political interference, he added.

Mr Kotakadeniya said that one could observe how political interfer- ence worked by looking at the crime rates in certain areas. "In some areas, where capable officers haven’t been appointed as Officers in Charge (OICs) of police stations or other senior levels due to political interference, there were high levels of crime. On the contrary, crime rates are low in areas where efficient officers are put in charge," the retired officer said.

He claimed the supposedly independent National Police Commission was also not taking enough action to prevent such interference in police affairs because members of the commission themselves are subject to such interference.

“It has now come to a point where the Special Task Force (STF) has become the only effective arm to combat crime. But the STF was an elite unit formed to combat the LTTE. Does it mean that the underworld has now become as strong as the LTTE?” he queried.

Mr Kotakadeniya also said that not enough action had been taken to recover illegal firearms from society. The menace of illegal firearms was not new, he said, pointing out that during the 1988-89 insurgency, the Defence Ministry issued firearms to various parties without maintaining a proper register, resulting in many weapons being freely available to various criminal gangs. In the current, post-war scenario, the problem has become worse with many military deserters also possessing sophisticated firearms that are being used in many violent crimes, he added.

Meanwhile, Law and Order Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara said the police were indeed capable of maintaining law and order and there was nothing wrong in giving more responsibility to a unit like the STF to crack down on drugs and underworld crime.

He said the underworld was not a recent creation and had been around for decades, along with illegal firearms. The Government, however, was determined to take action against them.

The Minister also scoffed at claims that political interference was preventing action being taken against criminal gangs. “It was during the previous regime that the underworld walked hand in hand with politicians. There is no such thing now, and I have never come across a situation where any politician has intervened or attempted to intervene on behalf of such elements,” he added.