People concerned over sudden house-to-house police survey; police say fears unfounded
Concerns have been raised regarding a lack of transparency over the survey on households being conducted by police in the Colombo district, with some residents alleging that political activists have accompanied police officers coming to collect personal information. This has also raised privacy concerns over who may have access to personl information. Police though, insist that all such fears are unfounded.
Police are currently conducting the door-to-door survey to obtain details of both permanent and temporary residents in the Colombo district. The survey is being conducted on the instructions of the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) and under the supervision of the office of the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) in charge of the Western Province, Deshabandu Tennakoon. Since details of permanent residents are available in the annual electoral register, the main focus is on collecting information on those who are staying in Colombo temporarily, police said.
Yet, some residents have raised concerns over what they say is a lack of transparency on the part of police when collecting their personal data. They also claim that civilians have accompanied police when the survey is being conducted in certain areas. Some claim to have identified activists of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) among them.
Most residents the Sunday Times spoke to declined to be identified by name. Many say they were unaware of the survey until police showed up at their door. One young woman in Mirihana said she opened her gate following persistent knocking last Sunday morning to find a uniformed policeman and a man in civilian clothes who she did not recognize.
“The policeman told me they were collecting information on people in households and asked me to fill out a form. When I asked why they were suddenly collecting these details he told me it was because of ‘Muslim’ terrorist activities. During the course of the conversation, I told him I was Muslim and married to a Sinhalese and that I was currently living alone as my husband was working overseas. He told me to write down all those details on the form, though the form did not ask anything related to religion or race,” she noted.
The woman said the policeman also asked her to note down her phone number, though that too had not been asked in the form given to her. “One of my neighbours later said the individual who accompanied the police officer was a former local politician with the SLPP. This made me very uncomfortable as this person was with the policeman while he took down my details, including my phone number. He also now knows I live alone. Why is it necessary for such a person to accompany the police? Why can’t they come with the area Grama Niladhari instead? Why did they ask for my phone number when the form didn’t require it? Who has our phone numbers now?”
Padmasena Dissanayake from Beddagana, Pitakotte said he filed a complaint with the National Police Commission (NPC) over what happened to him concerning the survey.
He explained that a policeman came to his house with the form on Saturday morning, adding that the officer was accompanied by two or three of Mr Dissanayake’s neighbours who are “known SLPP activists.”
“The form they gave basically asked for the same details that are seen in the voter registration list. When I asked why they couldn’t take those details from the register, they said they needed up-to-date information, which was fair enough. They wanted details of those living in the house, including people living temporarily. The policeman said he will come back in half an hour and for me to have the form completed to be handed over by then.”
Mr Dissanayake said his wife subsequently informed him that it was not the policeman, but one of the neighbours who came with him, who collected the completed form. “I didn’t like that. I had agreed to give the form to the uniformed policeman. Why should I hand a form containing our personal information to anyone else? This was why I drafted a letter of complaint to the NPC.”
A resident of Narahenpita said he thought nothing of it initially when he saw a man in civilian clothing with the policeman who came to his home. He said the policeman told him to give the form to the civilian once he completed it. “I was confused as I had no idea who this person was, but the domestic who works for me said he knew him and that he ran a shop in the neighbourhood. So, we gave him the form to go and hand it over. When the domestic took it, this individual had looked through it and asked where the phone numbers were, and to go and get them. The form did not require us to put the phone numbers but we went ahead and wrote those down too since we were asked to.”
The resident added that in hindsight, he remembers that it was the shop owner who carried the forms and not the policeman. “I don’t know about the other man’s political affiliation, but it seems to me now that the policeman was actually escorting him, which disturbs me. I’m further disturbed by the lack of transparency surrounding this. The police have a duty to communicate this better to the public,” he stressed.
In one neighbourhood in Nugegoda, it was actually a person in civilian clothing who handed out the forms, one resident said. “He told us he was with the police, and sure enough, we saw a policeman at a neighbouring house. When we asked why they were collecting details, they said they were trying to find information on temporary residents in the area as they were the ones responsible for a lot of crimes that were happening. There was no prior announcement from the police about conducting the survey in the neighbourhood. We also have questions as to why police would involve civilians in this process and not a local official like the Grama Niladhari, and who has access to our personal details now,” she observed.
Election monitors have taken note of reports regarding political activists accompanying the police in some areas when conducting the survey. Manjula Gajanayake, National Coordinator of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said the civilians were likely members of the local Community Police Committees (CPCs). “The committee can include local activists from all parties as well, but in the present scenario, it may well be that the majority of those taking part are individuals from the SLPP. The point is, with a parliamentary election looming, such individuals should not be involved in this process.” He added that the CMEV wrote to Acting IGP Chandana Wickramaratne raising concerns over "unidentified persons" accompanying police for the survey .
The electoral register only provides details of permanent residents. In Colombo however, there are tens of thousands from other parts of the country who reside as temporary residents. “We do not have sufficient information regarding them, which is why we initiated this survey,” SDIG of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon told the Sunday Times. He said there were numerous incidents in the past where police have found that criminals were conducting illegal activities based out of rented houses and boarding places. He cited the seizure of 192 kilograms of heroin from Bandaragama as a prime example. In that case, the drug dealers had stashed the drugs in a rented house after providing false information to the owners.
“The thing is, people don’t really take measures to verify the details of those who rent their properties or stay in their boarding places or annexes. We have had illicit liquor and drugs being trafficked from such properties, while those who engage in large scale frauds also stay in such temporary accommodation before disappearing entirely, sometimes even defrauding the owners of the very houses they stayed on rent. Yet, they can’t be found because all the information they provide turns out to be false.”
SDIG Tennakoon also said the information being collected will be useful in the event of a national security incident such as a terror attack as they would be able to quickly learn the places where suspects had last stayed.
The police conducted the survey in 60 selected Grama Niladhari Divisions in the Colombo area last week and found that some 41, 000 persons in these divisions alone were temporary residents, he further revealed. The survey will be conducted across a further 60 Grama Niladhari Divisions this weekend.
All the data being collected will go into a central database being set up by the police Information Technology Division. “Once the database is complete, it will be easier for us to trace those wanted by police for various offences, those who have warrants out for their arrest, and even those suspected of having connections to terrorism.”
SDIG Tennakoon also refuted claims that the process lacked transparency. Under Section 76 the Police Ordinance, the public must anyway notify the police regarding inmates in their households, including those living temporarily, when asked to do so. They must also notify police if anyone in their households moved out, he remarked. He further said the survey was being conducted jointly by the area Community Police Committee (CPC), the Grama Niladhari and the local police.
Colombo has 77 Grama Niladhari Divisions, but police have further broken it up into 200 divisions with a community police officer for each division. Each officer is responsible for conducting the survey in their area together with the local Grama Niladhari and the Chairperson of the CPC. He said that the civilians that some people said had come with the officer to their area would have been the Chairperson of their local CPC. “The Chairperson is someone who has the trust and respect of the people of that area. He or she may have their own party affiliation, but we won’t check whether the person supports the ‘X,’ ‘Y’ or ‘Z’ party. That is irrelevant.”
The SDIG also said there was no need for people to be concerned that their personal details were being shared with political parties. “I state with responsibility that only a small number of persons even in the police will have access to this database once it is completed. We have already given the IGP a list of these persons. They include myself as the SDIG Western Province, senior officers of the Police Intelligence, DIGs, SSPs and OICs in the respective areas,” he insisted.
The SDIG added that police started collecting information on permanent residents in the Colombo district even before the COVID-19 outbreak. About 80% of that is now complete, he said. He estimated that it will take another two to three months before collecting data on all others, including temporary residents, will be completed.
The thing is, people don’t really take measures to verify the details of those who rent their properties or stay in their boarding places or annexes. We have had illicit liquor and drugs being trafficked from such properties, while those who engage in large scale frauds also stay in such temporary accommodation before disappearing entirely, sometimes even defrauding the owners of the very houses they stayed on rent. Yet, they can’t be found because all the information they provide turns out to be false.”