Police Commission Chairman Senaka Walagampaya said if there was political interference on any investigation carried out by the Commission, the person involved was liable to a fine of Rs.100,000 or a seven year prison sentence.

Before the 17th amendment was replaced by the 18th amendment to the constitution, the Commission had powers that enabled them to take disciplinary action, transfer or suspend any policeman.

With the 18th constitutional amendment, the policeman was named as a state official. Therefore the powers of the Commission had been vested with the Public Services Commission (PSC).

If a policeman was found guilty, the Commission had to report to the PSC and after that they would take the necessary action against them. The Commission could also recommend a punishment by looking at the progress of investigations and how the suspect was found Before the 17th amendment was replaced by the 18th amendment to the constitution, the Commission had powers that enabled them to take disciplinary action, transfer or suspend any policeman of the Commission T.M. Tennakoon said.

He said if a policeman fell victim to a particular case, he could complain to the Commission. At that point the policeman would be regarded as a civilian.

Complaints that were lodged when the Commission was not functioning have been forwarded to the police by informing the police chief to take necessary action. The Commission has established seven provincial directorates to assist the public. All the officers are retired public administrative officers. They are also planning to set up two offices in the North and East in the near future. guilty for the offence he committed.

Since the activation of the Commission on February 23 this year, 224 complaints had been received. Out of that the Commission was investigating 129 complaints. The Commission said that 23 complaints were lodged by the Honk Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission and another 23 had directly come to the IGP.

According to the Commission most of the complaints were minor ones such as the laziness of policemen to write down complaints. But more serious complaints were received by way of misuse of power, false charges, remanding, assault and partisanship.

The complaints were categorised into two sections. One was the minor complaints and to complete such investigations was 30 days. The other was major complaints which the Commission took 60 days to complete investigations.

“We have informed IGP N.K. Illangakone that we want a SSP so that we can use him to call police stations and inform them about their faults. He will also be used to monitor the state of investigations conducted by the police after the completion of the initial investigation by the Commission,” Secretary

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka