The establishment of a police unit by the Jaffna Municipal Council as well as the arrest of the Jaffna Police and the Mayor who established the police is a very important political event.
This ‘police’ was a police force because some say that the police uniform is reminiscent of the LTTE police uniform. Otherwise, it is no different than the parking attendants appointed by the city councils. They are not armed like the LTTE police.
According to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the Northern Provincial Council has police powers. The central government has unconstitutionally prevented the exercise of those powers.
In the devolution of power, it is more democratic to give power to the local government than to the provincial council.
The five member police unit of the Jaffna Police is an excellent tool for focusing on this issue.
About half of the 80,000 cadre of the Sri Lanka Police work to protect the elite. There are no police officers for public safety. Someone mentioned in a recent discussion how this affects the economy. The man said that rubber manufacturers are not motivated to produce better sheet rubber because of the loss caused by smoke burglary. Today, the police as well as the people who pay salaries to the police have forgotten that the police, who are paid from public funds, have a responsibility to protect public property.
There is nothing wrong with the city council setting up such a security service to control public safety, such as spitting, illegal garbage disposal, and illegal parking.
The unfounded opposition to it eventually led to the creation of a new discourse on police powers.
Opponents of the devolution of power say that the devolution of power should go beyond the provincial councils to the local government bodies. Such a police force is very useful in exercising the powers of local authorities to protect municipal property and the environment, to park vehicles properly and to maintain urban road discipline.
At present the chairmen of local government bodies are not intellectuals. Handing over the police to a gang of thugs and robbers who have gained power by coercing national politicians is like handing over chickens to a fox. But we must be futuristic in proposing state reforms in a country. There should not always be a group of local government heads like there are today.
Mayor of Jaffna Manivannan is a lawyer. See original photo. It must be acknowledged that in many Sinhala areas of Sri Lanka, men have a more humane appearance than the chairmen of local government bodies. He was arrested on suspicion of promoting LTTE police uniforms. Below is the uniform of a security guard employed by a Municipal Council in a Sinhala area in the South and the uniform of that ‘Tiger Police’.
In the end, this too must be said. Such a uniform should be introduced to the Sri Lanka Police while removing the negative attitudes in the society regarding the khaki uniform that is still worn and does not suit the country. Fear of even the colors used by the LTTE is a thing of the past.
For a start, local government police units could be established under the Police Department instead of a fully independent local government police. This will enable the police powers of the local government body to be exercised