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| Saturday, 11 September 2004 |
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Organised Peace Committees in every village to tackle crime - Ratnasiri The Government is now in the process of setting up Peace Committees in a more organised manner in every village throughout the country and launch a special programme of action to tackle crime and maintain law and order in the country, said Minister of Buddha Sasana, Public Security, Law and Order and Deputy Minister of Defence Ratnasiri Wickremanayake when he opened a new Police Station in Wilgamuwa Laggala in the Matale District recently. Earlier, Wilgamuwa had only a police post to serve a population of 40,000. It was upgraded to a Police Station due to the efforts made by the Governor of the Central Province Monty Gopallawa and the OIC of the police post Nalin Gunawardene with the support of the people of the area. Minister Wickramanayake said that though the previous Government set up Peace Committees they had not been successful. Many did not know whether these Committees ever existed. But under the new programme launched by the Government these peace committees will be set up in a more organised manner with the help of religious leaders, civil society members and other organisations co-ordinating with the police in maintaining law and order in the area. These Committees will be a new experience to the area and help in more public involvement in tackling crime and vices in the area. He said that he was glad to open a new Police Station on Police Day. But it should be their aim to create a society where there need not be Police Stations. If all are law abiding, respect human values and be peaceful there need not be Police Stations. Therefore it should be their endeavour to create this atmosphere in the village and the proposed peace committees would help to achieve this. The Minister said that he would like to stress on the need for all police officers to be courteous, specially the manner in which they speak with the public when they attend to the needs of the people. Generally there had been no appreciable response from the people regarding attitudes of the police. Therefore they should make every effort to improve relations with the public and improve the image of the police in the eyes of the public so that they would co-operate with police in tackling crime and vices in the area. Governor of the Central Province Monty Gopallawa, DIG Central Province Nimal Mediwaka, SSP R. S. Ranasinghe, and OIC Wilgamuwa Police Nalin Gunawardene were present. |
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