| Ceylon Today Editorial
( January 27, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former Sports Minister, C.B. Ratnayake, a couple of years ago referred to the Sri Lanka Police as the most corrupt department in the country and lost his job. For someone who has travelled outside Sri Lanka or lived overseas, for example the West or the developed East, Sri Lanka's Police must be one of the most questionable public services or law-enforcement authorities in the world. Only two factors can be attributed to the declining image of the Sri Lankan cop. One is that he thinks he works not for the people or to uphold the law and protect the innocent, but for his superiors and the government that recommends or pays him. And the other can be attributed to the climate he works in where he may not have had the time to figure out his schedule in a public system that is not 100% conducive.
To start with, take the mindset of the traffic cop and the establishment he works for. One has only got to be where he is when superiors happen to pass by, while he is directing traffic, only to see him drop his guard and salute the passing boss. One wonders whether the traffic cop accepts his job together with an undertaking that he would stop his public duty to salute his uniformed boss or sometimes a minister. Or it may be that he does it fearing repercussions in the event of failing to please his bosses, who in turn, will not recommend him for a promotion or an increment.
It is there for everyone to see that all public services in this country are abused including the Police Department by the very people who are supposed to be the guardians of its founder principles. Today, there is absolutely no one who will reach out to greet a cop and even if one were to do it, it would be just 'to be on his good side.'
Nothing comes from the heart of a citizen but just something from the handbook. For such is the degraded public image of the country's police. Try making a statement in case of a simple robbery or theft and the victim is asked some of the most stupid questions ever imaginable, and who would blame the cop for he is also like many others doing some job to earn a living and not because the job suits him.
If a cop cannot get the simple things relating to his profession right, how can the society actually expect him to fight criminal activity even if he is independent of his political masters who are excellent at controlling or influencing him? Today, there may be a police force in the country but apparently there is no apparatus function independently and ensure that the law applies to everybody. Today there are two laws in the country, one for the small man and the other for the privileged or the inter-connected. Even the language of a cop of any rank has two tongues, one for the ordinary lorry or working class driver which is unprintable, and the other which is extremely polite and reserved for people who the cop considers 'respectable.'
In a nutshell, the privileged get away, while the small man pays. Go to a police station and see the number of motorists who have been booked or fined waiting to collect their documents. Nearly all of them are from the working class and the only reason for this is not because the SUV drivers or the well-dressed are such law abiders but because they are the ones who can get away, for such is the nepotism and influence-pedalling in Sri Lanka today.
Sri Lanka's Police Department must be one of the most politicized public bodies in the country and the very people who are responsible for this condition are the very people who want to sustain it that way – entirely for their own benefit. Whoever the cop or officer who dares question the ethics of the Police Department cannot be expected to remain within the police service, so everyone joins the bandwagon. How all this can end and the country be expected to have a clean and efficient police force or a law-enforcement authority that applies the law to everyone, may never be answered. Why not when the Chief Justice is removed and sent home and quickly replaced by someone not even popular among his own legal community but with connections and favour to the government. To expect the masses of this country to live in an environment where there is police justice and efficiency in the law-enforcement system is now a mere pipe dream.
There is absolutely nothing that the masses in this country can look forward to and consider a policeman as a symbol of justice, law and order. The policeman is there to frighten the helpless and the underprivileged and to turn a blind eye to the privileged law breakers just in case he loses his source of earning by ending up on the bad side of his masters.
 Former Sports Minister, C.B. Ratnayake, a couple of yea...){kind=link}