Police Investigations are slow and inefficient. The President should get a new team of Criminal investigators.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse has already accomplished an unparalleled service to his country in getting together an efficient group of people as a team, and reinforcing the Sri Lanka Armed Forces to take up the challenge to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka. That alone is worth the peoples gratitude to the remarkable qualities of leadership he brought with him to the high office he occupies.

Nevertheless, the qualities he provided to the Defence and Armed Forces of the country, is lacking in the Police Force of the country. The Sri Lanka Police Force continues to show a lack of methodology and efficiency in its investigations and bringing criminals to books. There are far too many criminal cases assassinations remaining unsolved.

The Police Department seems to have no clue, as to who were the perpetrators of assassinations and murders beginning from late Mr.Lakshman Kadirgama to recent case of the criminals who attacked the editor of Rivira Upali Tennakoon. These assassinations and criminal attacks could have been carried out by the terrorists , the underworld mafia, a group of absconding military personnel, or carried out by unscrupulous individuals employing criminals on contract.

Every time an assassination, arson or looting takes place the Presidents issues orders calling for a thorough investigation, but thereafter nothing comes out of it. The Police Department should be held responsible, and not the President or the Government, for the continuous assassinations that had been taking place at least during the last two years if not beyond. The criminal investigations are the responsibility of the Police Force.

The Police arrests suspects and nothing seems to be going beyond these arrests. In the case of the attack of the MTV studios the suspects brought to court had been released by the Magistrate, as the investigations had not been carried out by the proper branch of the Police Department. That shows that there is no coordination between the Police and the CID. The inefficiency of the Police Department gives rise to accusations being levelled at the President, the Government and the Armed Forces as directly or indirectly involved in the assassinations, arson, and burglaries.

The President should re-organise the Police Department, and infuse into it the same qualities and efficiency that he gave to the Armed Forces, and make it more active and carry out investigations with more vigour and efficiency. If the Police department had carried out their investigation properly and rapidly after the assassination of the editor of the Sunday Leader, the second attack on the editor of Rivira Upali Tennakoon, may have been averted. The attack on Rivira Editor seems to have been carried out by the same group that assassinated the editor of the Sunday Leader. If not by other criminals employed by the same “contractor”.

How many more assassinations have to be carried out before the criminals are arrested or at least some clues are found. As it is the police investigations are pathetically slow and inefficient and no body can expect any positive out come from the investigations.
The assassination of the Sunday Leader, had been carried out in broad daylight in the presence of eye witnesses. An efficient criminal investigators could have easily sifted enough evidence to lead them to the perpetrators. These ,investigations will give positive results only if carried out promptly without lapse of time. One or two days after an incidents, if the investigators have not found clues to follow up , they have then failed.

As it is the investigators have already failed in the three recent criminal incidents one of breaking up into the MTV Studios, the Assassination of the editor of Sunday Leader , and the attack of the editor of Rivira.

The President should shake up the Police Department , changing the Present IGP, and getting more efficient people into its service. If not the assassinations will continue and the President and the Government may continue to be held responsible by the local and foreign opponents of the Government and the President