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Priority to clearing backlog of complaints; NPC Chairman
View(s):Clearing the backlog of complaints will be among the priorities of the newly established National Police Commission (NPC), said Commission Chairman Prof Siri Hettige.
“We want to focus on crime prevention”: Prof. Hettige. Pic by Amila Gamage
He said the NPC has already held meetings on its future activities and discussed clearing the backlog which was a result of the non-functioning of the Commission for some time, and the Constitutional changes which had taken place.
“The NPC did not function for some time and there have been changes to the 17th Amendment and the 18th Amendment, and now the 19th Amendment, where the NPC’s functions have been restored with its powers in the 17th Amendment,” Prof Hettige told the Sunday Times.
Prof Hettige said, though they were looking into previous complaints, the figures were not available immediately.
“We have had two discussions and looked at various ways of dealing with issues which the police has to deal with, and all are still under discussion,” he said.
“However, discussions have been held on a series of subjects including crime prevention, improving the skills of the police force, solutions to the traffic issue among others,” he said.
“We want to focus on crime prevention, because, if you do not reduce the crime rate, it is difficult for everybody. Upgrading the skills of the police service and providing various opportunities to do quality work and to upgrade training.
Higher Education is another area. The Defence sector has a university, which probably is a gap, and upgrading police academic facilities has been discussed”.
“We are also looking at a more comprehensive code of ethics, which draft we are studying now. This would help facilitate police-public relationship,” he added.
He said the NPC was also looking at working conditions of the police and how to improve them.
Handling the issue of child abuse and protection of children, improving road safety to commuters and pedestrians, improving community level involvement and enabling the police to work with Mediation Boards are among other areas discussed so far.
“We have to think within inter-institutional collaboration. The police has to work in close collaboration with other State and even non-State institutions, so that, there is synergy between these institutions,” he added.
“We need to have a national approach in looking into issues. We need to use evidence from research,” he said. The other members of the Commission are P.H. Manatunga, Savithree Wijesekara, Y.L,M. Zawahir and Anton Jeyanathan.