Working as an ASP in various police districts countrywide

Excerpted from the memoirs of Senior DIG (Retd.)
Kingsley Wickramasuriya

Superintendent of Police Lionel Senanayake was in charge of the Gampaha Police Division. The Police District of Gampaha consisted of eight police stations including Attanagalla where the Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike was residing. It appeared that my predecessor Mr. Dharmadasa de Silva had got into some sort of a problem with the PM and that is why I had to replace him.

Gampaha was a very heavy district teeming with crimes. Many a time I had to be pulled out of bed to visit a scene of a ‘D Report’ case where the ASP must visit and give directions. Murders and robberies were some of those cases. With all that I kept the district on its toes with my surprise visits by day and by night.

Veyangoda was a police station area where illicit liquor was rampant. The OIC of the police station was Sub Inspector Yahmapath. He was doing a good job keeping the area under control, particularly that of illicit liquor. There was a petition against him alleging various misdeeds. I had to go into the matter to find some of his subordinates were behind the petition. Although I was of half a mind to help the OIC out of his difficulty as I was convinced of his honesty, I was in a difficult situation myself. Therefore, I had to go to the Superintendent for advice. His advice was typically stereotyped. Before I could complete the investigation, I got transfer orders to the Hatton Police District.

Transfer to Gampaha Division was made at a time when the General Election Campaign was on. Election meetings were being held all over the Gampaha District by the respective political parties. One such meeting was being held by the United National Party (UNP) in Veyangoda town. Veyangoda was a Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) stronghold and the supporters believed that no one else dare hold any meetings in their territory.

So, when the UNP decided to defy this belief they came in for severe heckling. So much so that it was almost impossible to continue with their meeting. Organizers of the meeting complained to me about their predicament. I decided to have a look and proceeded to the scene. While on the way my constable driver would warn me to let things alone as any interference was wrought with dire consequences. He was giving me friendly advice.

At the scene, I found how unruly the crowds opposed to the meeting were. I tried to persuade the hecklers to leave without results. Since it was bound tc lead to a breach of the peace if the situation was allowed to continue, I summoned a backup party from the Gampaha HQ Station. After a while, a heavy truck with a few men from Gampaha HQ Station appeared on the scene. On seeing the truck, the unruly crowd dispersed and ran helter-skelter. The meeting continued peacefully.

Finally, at the election, the UNP won the Gampha Seat. In the meanwhile, I received transfer orders to proceed to take charge of the Hatton Police District w.e.f. May 1, 1965. On hearing this the newly elected Member of Parliament (MP) of the UNP came over the telephone and spoke to me, and offered to get the transfer canceled in appreciation of my impartial duty performed by me during the election campaign. While thanking him for his sentiments I explained to him politely that the transfer was due to exigencies of services, that I had to make way for a married officer who had school-going children, and that we bachelors are always at the beck and call of the department.

Besides, Hatton Police District was an independent charge with the Superintendent in Kandy. Being still under probation it is a rare opportunity that one gets to go in charge of an independent district. When S.P. Kandy (Ana Seneviratne) agreed to take me under his wing in an independent district, that spoke of the confidence he had placed in me.

Hatton

Hatton Police District came under Kandy Police Division and the Superintendent in charge was Ana Seneviratne. Hatton District had eight police stations spreading from Hatton to Talawakelle bordering Nuwara Eliya on one side, Hatton, Dimbula, Lindula, Norton Bridge, Bogawantalawa, and Maskeliya on the other side, surrounded by tea estates and a rural population. It was entirely a different experience from the previous locations I have had, climate-vice, population-vice, and law enforcement vice.

On reporting at the new district, I found lodgings with two other bachelor public servants – one, a veterinary surgeon, and the other a dental surgeon. Inspector Dharmaratne was the HQI. ASP’s office was staffed by three clerks – the head clerk, and two other clerks. They were like a closely-knit family and very supportive. The inclement cold weather did not deter me from making surprise visits to the far-flung police stations day or night, keeping the district alert. In addition, I would call on the police stations to check whether the scheduled activities like the parade, etc. are being carried out. Night visits were sometimes hindered by the prevailing thick fog. But with the young and experienced police driver attached to me, traveling at night was no problem. He was clever at negotiating even the sharp bends in thick fog.

Prolonged labor strikes in the tea estates were somewhat bothersome problems that we had to face because of the violence that accompanied such labor unrest. In one such instance when I was at my wit’s end not knowing what to do, SP Kandy stepped in and ordered that police be posted temporarily at the estate concerned. That was tantamount to opening a police post at the venue. That was a new approach that I learned from this situation. Otherwise, crime in the district was not a problem. The problem was mostly the illicit sale of liquor and the resulting violence.

In the meanwhile, I got married to my fiance in August 1965 having obtained special permission from the department as any probationer wishing to tie the knot has to do. I found a house on rent and moved in there with my wife leaving my two friends and the boarding. My wife was a graduate teacher attached to a school in Katugastota. On being married 1 had to work out a transfer for her to a school in Hatton. Since then every time I got transferred, I had to arrange a transfer for my wife as well on my own with no assistance forthcoming from the Police Department. So much so, that I finally cultivated a friend in the Education Department in the section dealing with transfers. He was very helpful in working out transfers whenever the need arose.

I was in Hatton only till the end of 1965 when I got caught up on the annual transfer list and was transferred to Ratnapura Police Division on January 1, 1966.

Ratnapura

On transfer, I reported to Superintendent Thalaysingham and took charge of Ratnapura District II. This district too consisted of eight police stations starting from Balangoda, Kahawatte, Embilipitiya, Udawalawe, Rakwana, Pallebedda, Kolnne, and Kuruvita. I had been in the district barely for three months when I was transferred out again to Badulla Police Division on March 15, 1966.

As my usual practice of keeping the district alert, I did a night round to Kolonne Police Station in the early hours of the morning that took those at the police station including the OIC by surprise. After this visit, the word had gone around that I was visiting the police stations at all odd hours. Later on, I came to know that the moment I leave the HQ Station that the police stations in the district were alerted over the phone or the police radio, that I am on my way. So the police stations in the district were kept alert not knowing when and where I would surface.

Kahawatte was a police area where there was an overloading of bus transport. This was an offense coming under the Traffic Ordinance. I came to hear that this was being carried on with the support of SI Traffic of Kahawatte Police Station who was receiving bribes. I had no way of catching him taking bribes. Instead, whenever I visited the area and found overloaded buses, I used to take them to task by offloading the extra passengers. This affected the income of the Traffic SI and the bus owners as well.

One day when I was in the office, the SP called me to his office and confronted me with the MP for Rakwana who was representing the affected bus transport parties. He went on to explain that transport was difficult in the area and that my action was tantamount to harassment of the people. It was then I realized that what I was doing was counterproductive but when the MP learned the reason why I was doing it was to prevent the SI from taking bribes he took no further action.

On my part, I relented considering the difficulties caused due to a dearth of transport facilities in the area. That was a lesson I learned from the MP – to be sensitive to the problems affecting the common man when applying the law strictly by the book.

SP Thalaysingham seems to have taken a liking to me for keeping the district on its toes. One day he sent for me. I had to meet him at the Ratnapura Planters’ Club. While proceeding to the venue I overheard him telling some of his companions about the strict young officer (referring to me) and that he was planning to entrust a disciplinary inquiry against the very same Sl of Kahawatte Police Station to me in the belief that the SI would be properly dealt with. This word must have gotten into the ears of the SI as well.

Not long after I received a message from Police HQ that I should appear before the Inspector-General of Police John Attygalle on the given date. Eventually, I was produced before the Inspector-General by the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Range AC Dep. I was nonplussed not knowing why I had been called before the Inspector-General. During the interview, the latter appeared to be infuriated for some reason and he turned to me and asked me what I have done to mess up things.

He then appraised me of the complaint against me, that I had been meeting Mrs. Bandaranaike, the Opposition Leader, at the Pathakada Temple along with the chief priest of the temple and plotting against the Dudley Senanayake Government. The complaint had come from Mrs. Sita Molamure Seneviratne, the MP for Balangoda. I was simply flabbergasted by this diabolical lie and I could well imagine who could have made up this concoction.

When I explained to the Inspector—General what I was doing in the district to keep it on its toes he immediately became appreciative of my enthusiastic performance. Before he listened to my story, he was going to transfer me to Batticaloa it seems, but now having listened to me he said he would explain matters to the concerned authorities and not to worry about a transfer. Two weeks after the interview, however, transfer orders came, not to Batticaloa but to Badulla Division with married quarters available.

So I knew that IG was helpless. It had to be done as the orders came from the State Minister — a political decision. But the IG saw to it that the department was fair to me by posting me to a convenient station. The SI had his day but I was richer for the experience.

Badulla

I left Rathnapura Division and reported to the Superintendent of Police Badulla Division in March 1966. Superintendent of Police L.C. Abeysekera (fondly known among his friends as ‘Specy’) was in charge of the Badulla Division.

Badulla Police District extended from Badulla up to Maha Oya on one side, Mahiyangana, and Moneragala on the other. In between were Madulsima, Passara, Lunugala, and Bibile. Mahaoya and Moneragala were elephant-infested areas. The word had been spread that it was dangerous to travel in those parts at night. This kind of story assured that no officer would visit these stations at night. Such scary tales did not deter me from carrying out my duties. Early, middle and late-night visits to these stations were carried out as usual as I did in the other districts.

During these visits, I detected several misdemeanors committed by the staff. Once when I was out on a night round at Badulla I found a constable attached to the Traffic Branch misusing a government motorcycle. He was immediately taken to task. Then in Mahiyangana, a night patrol was found off their patrolling route watching a street drama (Sokari) in the night. When I visited Madulsima police station in the wee hours of the morning, the constable supposed to be on duty at the Charge Room was missing and later found gambling with others in another location. I approached the location on tip-toe with my driver behind me as a witness and caught the entire bunch of constables gambling.

I recorded their statements, signed their pocket notebooks as well as all the Information Books leaving no room for making false entries, made my observations in the Officer’s Visiting Book (OVB), interdicted the lot immediately, and left the station. Similarly, there were other instances too where the constable on duty in the Charge Room was not alert and was found sleeping. In each case, they were appropriately dealt with. Further, when I visit a station at night, I usually check the single men’s barracks too to ensure that all off-duty single men were present and that the roll call had been taken.

Major crimes in the district were few and far between. Once multiple murder was reported in Moneragala. At first, the suspect was unknown. One of the victims of the attack, a young girl who was the only eyewitness would not come out with her story when questioned by the police. The OIC who was investigating was at his wit’s end. When I visited the scene and reviewed the evidence available, I suggested that the girl be confronted by her grandmother. That worked and working on her evidence we were able to unravel the entire story behind the murders and the rape of the victim committed on a sandbank of a stream that led us to the suspect who later confessed to the magistrate. Thus, a C3 case was solved and the accused was brought to book with a little innovative thinking.

At another time a homicide was reported while I was inspecting Mahiyangana Police Station. A man clad in full white came to the police station with the murder weapon and surrendered saying that he killed his wife who was caught with her paramour. I visited the scene immediately with the OIC and a few others at the station and found the victim in a seated posture with the severed head as if she was worshipping her murderer. I left the scene with instructions to carry on with the investigation. The suspect was later produced before the Magistrate where he confessed to the Magistrate. At the end of the prosecution, the accused was found guilty of murder on grave and sudden sudden provocation and was given a life sentence.

The SP was a keen sportsman. He did many things to promote sports in the division. He organized a sports meet at one time, on a grand scale. Much effort had to be put into this project. It was meticulously planned by him and carried out with the support of the OICs of Police Stations and well-wishers. IG John Attygalle was the chief guest at the sports meet ending up with a gala ballroom dance in the night.