President says police is hardworking and must be appreciated

Colombo (News 1st): The heads of expenditure of the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment and the Ministry of Defence were debated in parliament today (April 4). Expressing his views in parliament President Maithripala Sirisena noted that they have not weakened the triforces in any way. He added that there is a shortage of certain resources, such as ships for the navy and aircraft for the air force. He added that on one hand, recruiting staff for the engineering and technical divisions of the navy and air force, will generate foreign income to Sri Lanka and when they provide training and send them overseas, Sri Lanka can generate foreign income. The Head of State noted that they have taken steps to obtain the latest technology to eradicate and minimize the spread of drugs and narcotics in the country. Speaking regarding the police he noted that everyone from the police does a great service. He added that the police should be transformed into a more people-friendly service. In his opinion, disrespecting or criticizing the police is not appropriate as they stand for 12 hours without eating their meals. He went onto note that there is no police officer who works on 8-hour shifts, they work 12 hours. President Sirisena added that the police service should be elevated to a better standard, and the government has taken these facts into consideration. The President went onto note that there was a need to amend the laws and regulations to allow the police to control criminals, the law was quite old and he had to amend these laws in the past 3 months. He noted that the attorney general's department and the relevant institutions have been instructed to draft new acts. The President believes that the police department should be subject to a complete change.