A specially trained Police motorcycle unit numbering 100 personnel passed out at the Katukurunda Police STF Training School on Thursday. They are among 50 such motorcycle units that were deployed from yesterday to track down criminal elements in the Western and Southern Provinces and to respond to incidents involving gunmen carrying out shootings riding motorcycles. The teams were given two weeks special training to put them in shape for the task ahead .The passing out took place in the presence of Public Security Minister Tiran Alles who prevailed upon the men set to embark on their mission and not to hesitate to use their weapons and that he will always stand by them.”Eliminating criminals from the country is not a sin. Don’t be afraid to use the weapon in your hand. For doing the right thing we will stand by you,” the minister told them. He further said that the Police officers who had undergone training know what is to be done.”If this team is not enough another motorcycle team will be established. We have a goal. All Police officers know what that goal is”. He said he had done everything (to encourage the officers) including granting salary increases. He expect them to fulfill the goal of eradicating the current killing spree.
This column had been repeatedly advocating for the civilian Police to be trained in armed combat on the lines of the training received by the Army during the war. It is only through this means ,we argued, that the Law Enforcement can meet the enemy on equal terms and final overcome them as did the Army eventually when it totally routed the LTTE.
Unfortunately ,this was long in coming and Minister Alles and IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon should be commended for at last hitting upon the ideal solution to answer the current spiraling murder rate ,that, in a majority of instances , is intertwined with the drugs trade.
The Minister must ensure that there is no interference, in whatever form, to thwart the present efforts to combat the runway crime rate. He recently told those officers in charge to inform him if there were any political interference into their work to go after criminals and drug lords.
This, perhaps, is the first time that a Government Minister in charge of public security had made such a statement which mirrors his commitment to fight the crime wave to its final extinction .We have no doubt that only those officers with special skills and aptitudes in combating crime have been picked to run these special motorcycle units as in the case of the military where the officers who had been put in charge of operations were picked on merit .Had this been done in the case of the Police, prior to this , things would not have deteriorated to such an extent .One recalls former IGP Chandana Wickramaratne conceding that the May 09 mayhem was allowed to proceed to such a destructive level due chiefly to the inefficiency of the OICs of Police Stations in the provinces who were appointed at the behest of the area politicians. In the end ,the politicians responsible for their appointments too were made a pay a heavy price, with their own homes too coming under attack .
Hence it could be seen that as with everything else politicization had even led to the deteriorating law and order situation. This should teach the concerned authorities to at least now to tell politicians where to get off. Minister Alles had made things plain in this respect and they need not fear any one in carrying out their duties according to their own conscience.
While Minister Alles should be commended for taking positive measures to stem the tide of organized crime , he should also seize on this opportunity to revamp and modernize the Police Force as it stands at present to make it meet the present day challenges .We day this because today crime had taken on special dimensions with the narcotics trade deeply ingrained in its workings .Hence ,while the special motorcycle units go after the big time criminals , the other cadres should also be made to change their attitudes and outlooks in coming to terms with the spectre of crime and act accordingly. No doubt special training would have to be imparted to all Police personnel to gear them to meet the present demands while the Police Service itself is made to undergo a through shake up to wake it from its slumber and be more proactive in its mission. As a first step corruption in the Service should be eradicated -what with daily media reports full of stories about the links of Police officers with drug dealers. In fact by the Minister’s own admission, certain high ranking Police officers were working hand in glove with the drug barons which even prompted him to disclose that the bank accounts all such officerd would be subjected to scrutiny.
One should keep in mind that the special Police combat teams now being deployed to tame the criminals are doing so with risk to their own lives. Hence, acts of corruption on the part of Police officers could even compromise these valiant men. Hence the need to give serious thought to the whole aspect of the operation.
