Last week, Sri Lankan MP Dilum Amunugama, who publicly called for the President to act like ‘Hitler’, was sworn in as the State Minister of Community Police Services at the Presidential Secretariat.
This comes as Sri Lanka plans to further increase its police presence. Amunugama will oversee 28,000 community police officers, who will play the role of the former "village headman" and act as intelligence officers for the State in areas where they reside. The officers will have the same powers as normal police officers but will work out of Grama Niladari offices and refer unresolved disputes or issues to police stations.
Amunugama claimed that the aim of their recruitment is ‘to establish a strong community police service’ and to lower the number of minor complaints that are made at police stations.
“For example, COVID-19 is a major threat right now; so, the officers will have to work with other local authorities to ensure that COVID health guidelines are being followed in their communities...The officers will also be useful to the police as a source of genuine intelligence as they would be providing accurate reports on the goings-on in their areas,” he said.
Harsh police measures continue to be employed on the island in light of increasing COVID infections. Following Amunugama’s appointment, a special operation was carried out by Jaffna police under the instruction of Chief Inspector, Prasad Fernando, during which at least 20 Tamils in Jaffna were arrested for allegedly not wearing masks or following social distancing measures. A viral footage exposed Sri Lanka police dragging Jaffna Tamils away and forcing them to quarantine.
