Daily Mirror - Print Edition

Police Service short of around 10,000 cadres

28 Nov 2011 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}      

The Police Service runs short of around 10,000 cadres required to maintain law and order in the country, Parliament was informed today.

In response to a question by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake, Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardane said that there are only 83,423 police officers in the service, the actual number required is 92,023 police.

Out of those in service, 81,328 are Sinhala police officers, 1,093 Tamil police officers, 952 Muslim officers, nine Dutch officers and 25 Malay officers .  There are only 430 police stations in the country.

Mr. Gunawardane said that the number of police stations required in the country is determined by the Defence Ministry on recommendations by the Inspector General of Police.

“When establishing a police station, there are no specific parameters. The number of crimes, population growth, emergence of new colonies and geographical conditions are considered when establishing a police station in a given area,” he said. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)