“Crime prevention is a community responsibility”

A man with 33 years of service under his belt, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Indra De Silva is of the firm opinion that crime prevention is the responsibility of the people while law enforcement is the duty of the Police.

“Society has to invariably trust the Police. The Police also must trust society. It is a two-way thing. Otherwise we cannot survive. You have to create community trust and work as a team together with the people,” he said, in an interview with The Bottom Line.

He asserted that the man wearing the Police uniform should be worthy of it since Policemen have the power to enforce, correct and work with the community. “The uniform is recognised by the people. The man wearing it has the powers to enforce the law. Everybody can’t wear that uniform,” he stressed.

Speaking about the raging conflict, he opined, “The day we are able to look after the Tamil people and take them from the clutches of the LTTE, that day things will be okay. We have to keep one very important thing in mind – there are innocent people sandwiched in between and you should not harm them.”

Q: What is the role of the IGP of Police?

A: He is the chief administrator of the Police force. Apart from his profession, which is law enforcement, when you become the head, you become the chief administrator. He is the person who handles all the financial matters – that is the main function according to his rank.

The Police uniform that a Police constable wears and the uniform that the IGP wears, both have the power to enforce the law. Both are law enforcement officers. There is no difference where the laws of the country are concerned.

The difference is within the organisation – that is administrative. That is where you wear a pip or a star and various things. Those are for organisational administration purposes. If you go to a Policeman today and ask him why he did something, his answer is always incorrect. He says it is because the DIG or ASP or someone asked him to do it. That is wrong. They have the powers to enforce the law. Everybody can’t wear that uniform.

The 1947 Police Commission dealt with the development of the force. A memo written by Sir Ivor Dennis said that Policemen are not picked up from the byways and highways but that they are selected. They have the power to enforce, correct and work with the community. The uniform is recognised by the people. The man wearing the uniform should be worthy of it.

Q: How should a Police IGP conduct himself?

A: He has to run the organisation with will and help the main function – law enforcement. All other paraphernalia and divisions and various things have to be organised to achieve that objective. For instance, in Sri Lanka, we have a very beautiful, tiny organisational structure. The line of command moves up to down and vice versa. There is accountability and responsibility.

To support this structure you get uniform support staff as well as civil support staff for clerical and financial matters. Uniform support staff includes the CID, for example. The OIC is the main man. He has a judiciary area and he has to work within that. If he requires assistance, he can call in the CID. Law enforcement is divided into three areas – crime, traffic and public order. The OIC should also get the men trained for skills after basic training. Training is a support area.

Then you take the Field Force Headquarters. The field force is there to support the local Police station. During unrest, etc., they come with the Riot Squad and bring the situation under control. The security situation is where the STF comes in, to tackle disturbances due to terrorism and insurrections, etc. the security division is there to protect VIPs if close protection is needed when they come to an OIC’s area for some purpose. It is the responsibility of the OIC.

Q: How would you describe the job? Does it come under severe political pressure or is it a fulfilling experience?

A: If the master in the country is the law, why should they worry about any other thing? I didn’t have any political interference. Let me give you an example.

If a Police constable removes an election campaign banner, the area organiser calls me and says, ‘This Police constable has removed my banner’ and all sorts of thing. My answer has always been, ‘Kindly make a complaint.’ If he has done the wrong thing, then we can deal with it. If you act upon something that is said over the telephone, no one knows what has been done. None of the politicians are angry with me because later on they have realised that I did the correct thing.

In the case of elections, once the nominations are given, until the day the elections are over, the Elections Commissioner is the main man and the Police works with him. The Police and other public administrative officers support him. Nobody can dictate terms to him.

Q: What were the main challenges you faced when you were the IGP and how did you overcome those challenges? What changes did you bring about?

A: Making changes won’t help. If you make a change, the results take a lot of time. The best thing is to get the work done with the available material. That is how it should be done. You must get at the correct man for the job from the available lot and ask him to do the job.

Take, for example, the Elections Secretariat that was activated at the headquarters. During election time, this secretariat had taken everything into its hands – crime / financial / manpower, etc. I found that it was an entirely wrong way of handling things because the Elections Secretariat was meant to liaise with the Elections Commission.

What I did was tell the person in charge to look after only that area and allow the senior DIG in charge of crime to handle crime, leave the person in charge of manpower to handle that, and so on. When he does all these things, others become inactive. Not just that, it is also a waste of resources. On top of that, the line of command breaks. That must be maintained; that is how it should be done.

There was also a problem regarding rank structure. For example, when you say ‘deputy,’ there should be only one deputy. Now there are more than 35 deputies. They have also promoted five senior DIGs recently. Having too many deputies also becomes a problem.

Q: What new initiatives did you implement during your tenure as IGP?

A: In any organisation, you have two basic areas – people who are serving and those who have served and retired. You cannot forget those who have retired because they are the wealth of the organisation – experience lies always with them. You have to amalgamate them or invite them so that they feel that they are still part of the organisation. I told the retired officers to organise themselves and get in to the habit of helping the serving Policemen. Now there are retired officers’ organisations.

For example, in places like Kegalle and Ampara during the drought, I have seen the Policemen bring water down to the station for their use. On the way, the retired Police constable is living without water. If he is given some water and made to feel that he is still part of the organisation, that feeling will help the Policemen on duty to get better information and assistance from him when investigating a crime in the area, etc.

Then in the case of Police funerals, the full funeral is given only to those who die while in service. Retired Policemen are not given the same funeral. I changed that in 2004 and now they are also given the full funeral. Retired Policemen are also visited in their areas by Police officials and files are maintained about these visits. This relationship was there earlier but it had been disintegrating and the system was implemented again.

There was another thing, but I could not do it. When you become an ASP, you go and take oaths as a justice of the peace. But today, when you resign, those powers are taken away. It is given solely under the virtue of your position. From the day you become an ASP, until you retire, you have justice of the peace powers as well. The people they now appoint are sometimes the thugs or unlawful elements in the area. The retired Policemen end up going to him for those matters. I wanted to change that but I couldn’t because you have to go to Parliament and Parliament has to pass it. Doing that is important.

In the case of crime prevention, I embarked on that immediately and the National Crime Prevention Bureau was formed but that is not functioning now. That is very important. Crime prevention is a community responsibility. If the community is disciplined, then the Police can be very efficient. That is the theme we put across. Law enforcement is only a part of prevention. Crime prevention is a twofold thing – reactive prevention and proactive prevention. Reactive prevention is law enforcement. Proactive prevention is the responsibility of the people.

The 119 system was a brainchild of former Law and Order Ministry Secretary Ranavirajah. It was implemented during my tenure but it is not being continued properly today. There are certain stages that we have to continue but it is not happening now. We wanted more sophisticated equipment to implement this system properly.

The promotion to the rank and file of those who were stagnating for years, consisting of about 4,000 Police personnel, were also done under a special scheme. The 2004 election was handled well due to the confidence that we built in the rank and file.

Q: There is widespread opinion that the Police force is not what it used to be and it is viewed in a negative light by the public. What steps should be taken to regain the trust of the people?

A: Some people say that the Police is inefficient today – that is true. That is because the Police is not doing law enforcement. But if you take how the Police safeguarded the government without allowing insurrections and terrorist activities to topple it, then you can speak about the efficiency of the Police. You cannot measure efficiency without taking the prevailing conditions into consideration.

We are in a very abnormal position. In these conditions, these organisations have to move out from their normal positions and get into doing other things. Now other things have taken over. Law enforcement as we did in the past is different today. Other things have taken precedence, especially due to terrorism. During the 1971, there was no Army. We had only a ceremonial Army. The Police had to shoulder everything.

‘Police’ is a Greek word. It means ‘city’ or ‘town.’ In the good old days, the people of the city or town or village got together and shared their problems and looked after their security and other matters. There was collective behaviour to maintain order in society. To identify that action, the word ‘Police’ was used. Society has to invariably trust the Police. The Police also must trust society. It is a two-way thing. Otherwise we cannot survive.

Crime prevention is the responsibility of the people. Police duty is to maintain law enforcement – acting according to the law of the country. That is what the people expect from the Police. To build that trust, the power of the uniform has to be exhibited to the people. You have to create community trust and work as a team together with the people. Honesty is important, which is lacking today in the whole world.

Q: How do you think a lasting solution can be found to the ethnic conflict?

A: After working in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Ampara, etc., for 14 years, I have found that when you take Sinhala and Tamil people, the most law abiding and cultured people are Jaffna Tamil people. Even today they are like that. What has happened is that a group of people are doing certain things, thinking it is the way to solve the problems that they are facing. Invariably, the Tamil people get sandwiched between and there is no one to look after them.

The day that we are able to look after the Tamil people and take them from the clutches of the LTTE, that day things will be okay. Terrorism in the whole world today has taken a very, very strong area and has become a phenomenon. The nations in the United Nations are divided but the terrorists are united.

Q: How can we solve the problem in Sri Lanka – through war or through negotiations?

A: You need to fight with them. It is called punitive expeditions. In the good old days they didn’t use mortars and such equipment in punitive expeditions – that is the difference. And the man who says don’t fight, produces arms. The method they use in these punitive expeditions has become sophisticated.

When doing that, we have to keep one very important thing in mind – there are innocent people sandwiched in between and you should not harm them. You should safeguard them, take the fear out of them, and bring their hearts and minds towards you. This is very important.

Although we analyse it as a communal, ethnic or racial problem, it is really a group of people who are terrorising the area for their personal benefit. Prabhakaran was a very innocent, well-cultured young boy. He was driven to terrorism due to things he saw with his own eyes. When you are exposed to these things, your mind gets disturbed.

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