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The Moving Finger by Lionel Wijesiri

We are standing at the threshold of a new era, a pivotal time in our history. As we view the past and look forward to the future, we intensely feel the great responsibility all of us must shoulder to bridge the gap between past and future. How can we resolve current problems, reinforce established foundations, and continue the lifeline of the nation? How can we best respond to and overcome new challenges, while pursuing sustained development ? All these questions require thorough study and careful planning for the benefit of the next generation.

Social development is one serious challenge which we must face. Strengthening law and order, safeguarding social justice, and preparing for the arrival of an aging society are all responsibilities that cannot be neglected today or in the next century.

The statistics of daredevil criminals getting away with impunity or not being caught at all is odiously climbing by the day. Though there have been some effective police anti-crime swoops in the city, the campaign against crime, politically-backed or otherwise, cannot be sustained without disciplining the politicians and power deviants. That the criminals change sides with the change in the administration is an old, hackneyed ruse. Law and order

The Prime Minister has promised to put the country's economy back on the rails within this year. But law and order, unless addressed urgently with concrete results on the ground, can derail what he has been able to achieve in the past year or aims to achieve this year.

A society needs to self-actualise regularly. This calls for the cultivation of spiritual and mental strength. We can say that spiritual strength refers to a set of moral ethics and moral courage that a society has towards crimes and disorder, based on the universal principle of sanctity of human life.

On the other hand, mental strength is the perseverance and determination to want to contribute to the reduction of crime and maintenance of law and order in the society. One plausible way to educate and develop in the community the required attributes is for the police force to leverage upon and continually build on its community policing approach.

This can be done through its police stations, which adopt a sharper community focus under a one-stop service centre, providing an array of services such as faster responses to police calls and queries, speedier investigations, better counter service, closer relationships with residents in its own area of jurisdiction and many other pro-active functions. When the police provide the public with quality service, they, in turn, will be more forthcoming in assisting the police not only in its investigations but also to impending commission of an offence.

If the public has faith in the police, it will be a stronger force to battle crime.

It is a well-known fact that the people in general have lost faith in the effectiveness of the state apparatus responsible for the enforcement of law and there by its failure to maintain law and order in the society. In more simple words, it simply demonstrates the current level of lack of confidence of the people in the Police- the force primarily assigned to and responsible for enforcement of law in the country.

Confidence

There are many reasons for such development. But the most prominent one for such ineffective functioning of the Police is its political uses by the past governments. The police was made bias and ineffectual and forced to work in the party line. Jerome de Alwis, executive of a non-governmental organisation working to protect the rights of citizens, is concerned about the long-term effects of these incidents on the relationship between the police and the society in general.

"If we reach a situation where our people have no confidence in the police as a result of their attitude towards the people, then the level of cooperation which should exist on both sides will not be there, and that will certainly have some negative impact on law and order in the society," he says.

Part of the solution, he adds, is that police officers need to be trained in issues such as conflict resolution.

K. Abeywickrema, a retired police officer agrees. "I don't see things changing with the police if they are not properly trained in areas that will help them to deal with the public. Something will have to be done to bring some civility to the police force."

He adds: "It might be a prudent idea for the OICs of the Police Stations be directed to hold regular meetings in various towns and villages in their jurisdictions at least once a month. It will help the public to meet the Police Officers and voice their grievances, if any. This will also enable the Police to sensitise the public on various issues and seek their cooperation in prevention of crime and maintenance of law and order".

There are those who argue that the police officers are products of the society, and the society, in many respects, is a violent one. However, we want it to be a matter of the past.

We want the present administration to induce the police personnel as impartial enforcers of law through appropriate de-briefing. They should be suitably advised to be people- friendly, and at the top of all, the police should also be allowed to function independently within the framework of the law of the land and other established rules and procedures.

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