Cosmetic change not enough

IGP Pujith Jayasundara stated this week that plans were in the works to change the khaki uniforms worn by police personnel in Sri Lanka to blue, on account of implementing necessary change within the force. He stated that most police departments around the world wore blue uniforms and that Sri Lanka’s force would soon follow suit with the hope that it would push the police department in a new direction.

Of course, this is not the type of change the public were hoping for or expecting from the Police and may be indicative of much of the change that’s taken place over the last couple of years. A change in uniform is hardly an answer to all the allegations of corruption and inefficiency levelled at the force over the years. The announcement from the IGP has met significant criticism by sections of the public already with those on social media ridiculing the move. When the focus should be on addressing serious inefficiencies within the force, it is no surprise that people feel aggrieved that the department has instead decided to spend public funds on a wardrobe adjustment.

A recent survey conducted by Transparency International showed that Sri Lanka has a bribery rate of 15% among 17 countries in the region and its citizens frequently pay bribes to the Police, which will come as no surprise to anyone. Allegations of excessive force, corruption and incidents of custodial deaths have also significantly hurt public opinion of the Police.

However, the situation may not be as dire as it sounds as public faith in a turnaround also remains strong. According to the TI survey, more than half the people living in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand had said that their Government was attempting to tackle corruption but with limited results. The results showed that Australia followed by Sri Lanka and Taiwan have done the best with the most positive ratings overall across the key corruption questions in the survey.

When IGP Jayasundara was first appointed, he delivered a poignant statement spurring the Police force of the country to win back the hearts and minds of the people during a time when public trust in it is fast deteriorating.

There is much to do to instil in the force the most basic tenets of being a police officer – politeness, obedience, loyalty, intelligence, courtesy and efficiency but the public will not take kindly to superficial change, especially if they feel they are being duped.

The IGP and the Government need to back their oft-repeated statements with stronger actions against excessive force and the periodic psychological assessments of Police officers. The allegations of internal cover-ups and falsified testimony in cases of custodial deaths, torture and bribe-taking must also be addressed as restoring the integrity of the Police.

As well intentioned and as full of naive hope as this move may be, it is at large a cosmetic change. A uniform switch is certainly not the type of change the public was hoping for or deserve. It does little to repair the damage caused to the trust between the people and the Police force. The Police Department must ensure that although the public is likely to view this as an empty PR move that it becomes the catalyst for real meaningful change within the force.