UK funds program to bring police and communities together in post-war Sri Lanka

The United Kingdom through the British High Commission in Colombo has funded a community policing program in the post-war Sri Lanka to bring the country's police service and the communities together.

The British High Commission has begun last year to work with The Asia Foundation (TAF) and the Kandurata Community Development Foundation (KCDF) in support of community policing in Sri Lanka.

The program gives the country's citizens an opportunity to meet face-to-face with police officials to discuss issues of crime and conflict that have affected their communities.

The Asia Foundation's Colombo office, with financial support from the British High Commission and the Conflict Prevention Pool of the UK government, has launched the pilot community-policing program in order to assist in better coordination of security, safety, and crime prevention.

A report issued recently by The Asia Foundation says during the war the public lacked confidence in their police officers and were often afraid to approach the police with concerns about crime and conflict in their communities.

The police still rank poorly in surveys comparing public trust in different state institutions, but senior police officers seem determined to change those perceptions, the TAF report says.

According to the British High Commission in Colombo, under the joint initiative, 24 forums have been established across the Kandy and Moneragala District at which the police and citizens meet together to better understand crime incidents and conflict issues that communities face on a daily basis.

Issues tackled so far have included domestic violence, land disputes, alcoholism, physical assault, and property damage. Both the police and local men and women have found the forums a useful place to develop solutions to community problems.

The initiative was devised in response to a survey conducted in the Kandy District, where approximately 90 percent of Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim community members felt that the community and police could successfully work together on local security challenges.

The project has been funded through the UK government's Conflict Prevention Pool (CPP), which is jointly managed by the Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence.