Household checking by police in Colombo reimposed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 10:10 GMT]
The new Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mahinda Balasooriya, on his assumption of duty has reimposed checking of house holds of Tamil residents in Colombo. In a repetition as in the LTTE war period, police personnel have been instructed to question any visitor lodged in a residence not registered with the respective police station in the area and to take any person living in a household unregistered into police custody, sources in Colombo said.

Meanwhile, police personnel attached to stations in Colombo complain that they have to perform duties of civic police after fulfilling their normal 12-hour duty,

The renewed rounds of checking have drained police personnel attached to other branches due to renewed checking of households after the new IGP assumed office.

According to police sources there are 10-member units of civic police in a police station and these personnel function under an officer who is in charge of a given street.

The civic police functions under a DIG.